Strike Witches: War in the Stars
by Gamer83888
Summary: During battle with Neuroi, Gertrude Barkhorn lands in world, where Neuroi never existed. World, torn apart by war, on which fate of galaxy depends. War between standing on a lost position Resistance and Holy Order, wanting to enslave all beings. Now, as a member of Resistance, she has to fight Holy Order, if she wants to return back home.
1. Ch1: War of the Future

**This story is a remake of the first story I written. I had to delete it from some…personal reasons. But now, I decided to make it again and I hope it'll be better.**

XXX

May 12, 1944

12:31

501st JFW Base, Folkestone

Day at the base was sunny and no clouds could be seen. By last two days, there was no Neuroi attacks, so there was no much to do by that time. Everyone was just taking care of their own affairs.

Barkhorn and Erica were just running another round around the base. Erica with difficulty kept up with Barkhorn.

"Come on, Hartman! Only 5 more laps left!"Barkhorn shouted to Erica.

"But…I…can't…"Erica murmured, before she collapsed on the ground.

Barkhorn stopped and approached her partner.

"I can't understand you. How could you be Karlsland Top Ace, if you can't run 10 laps?"she asked.

"Simple."Erica replied, heavy breathing."I'm not fan of physical things as you are".

Before Barkhorn could tell Erica, what she thinks about such explanation, alarms raged all around the base, signalizing the Neuroi appearance.

"Why today?"Erica groaned.

"Don't whine. Jest get up and let's go bring this down."Barkhorn ordered.

Erica, with reluctance, got up and the two quickly went to hangar, where the rest of team was already preparing for battle.

12:50

Over the English Channel

All Witches from 501st were in the air and ready to engage the Neuroi. The spoken one could already be seen in the distance.

"It seems that we have a Heavy Type there."Erica stated.

"I just hope we can deal with it quick."Yoshika said.

"From what I think, this don't seem to be that easy."Barkhorn joined the conversation.

Right then, they saw as Neuroi fire it's lasers.

"Shields!"Minna ordered.

Witches quickly activated their shields and deflected the lasers, before they him them.

"Open fire!"Sakamoto ordered.

Guns started to blaze and bullets hit Neuroi armor, making multiple holes in it. However, all of them quickly were quickly regenerated.

"Mio, where the core is?"Minna asked her 2iC.

Sakamoto lifted her eye patch and scanned the Neuroi with her Magic Eye. She moved from it's front to it's tail, but quickly returned to the middle of it and saw the red dot in form of core.

"It's in the same middle of it!"Sakamoto reported.

"All Witches, focus fire on the middle part of Neuroi!"Minna ordered.

Everyone changed their position and flew over the middle part of Neuroi. They were greeted by lasers, but managed to deflect it. Next, they opened fire and saw as bullets pierce through the upper part of it's armor. Soon, the red shine of core could be seen through cracks in it. After another series of bullets exposed the core.

"There it is!"Lynette said.

"Leave it to me!"Barkhorn said.

She aimed her MG42s at the core and fired. Bullets easily pierced the core, which shattered into pieces. Neuroi did the same not soon after.

Witches gathered under the rain of white crystal remnants of Neuroi.

"Is everyone okay?"Minna asked, when everyone was around her.

"Yeah. It could be worse."Shirley replied.

"The same here."Erica added.

During this conversation, Eila noticed a strange thing: a blue Neuroi shard. She looked at her squad. Nobody was paying attention at it, so she flew up to it.

Eila didn't knew why, but something forced her to touch it. It was so strong feeling, that she couldn't resist and touched the shard.

"No!"said Perrine, which noticed this.

Immediately, Suomus Witch pulled the hand back, when a blue beam fired out of shard and started to reflect from other white shards. Witches, surprised by this, turned in that side and saw the beam. It was first time they saw something like that and were amazed.

Only Barkhorn saw one detail. Minna was on beam's way. And beam itself was about to hit her.

"No!"Barkhorn shouted and rushed towards Minna.

She pushed her commander out of the way, right before beam hit Barkhorn.

There was a flash of light, which blinded the Witches for a second. When light and dazzle disappeared, everyone noticed that Barkhorn just evaporated. Only things that left, were her Strikers and MG42s, which started to fall to the sea. Shirley, Erica and Perrine quickly flew to catch them.

"No…"Eila whispered.

Before she orientated, Minna rammed her.

"It's your fault!"Minna shouted in Eila's face"Why you touched that shard?! Did someone wanted you to do it?!"

"I didn't…"Eila tried to protect herself.

But the quarrel was cut of by Sakamoto, which flew between the two.

"It's not a time for that!"she exclaimed"We don't bring Barkhorn back with quarrel. It can't be helpful".

Minna once again looked at Eila, which hung her head from sadness.

"You're right"Minna admitted"Strike Witches. Return to base".

With these words, Witches turned and flew to base.

Unknown date

Unknown time

Unknown location

Barkhorn's eyes slowly started to open. She was feeling the air hitting her face. Under her, she was seeing forest, with unnaturally high trees. And they were becoming bigger.

It was this moment, when Barkhorn orientated that she don't have her Strikers on and she's falling. She quickly covered her face with hands, right before she hit the tree branches. Fortunately, branches halted her and she didn't changed into stain on the ground. But she still felt pain.

"Fuck."she drawled through teeth.

She stood up and looked around. All of her field of view was filled with trees and rocks.

"Where the hell em I?"she asked herself"I better look for someone. Or maybe I find a way out of this forest".

She then went to search for someone in the forest. And she didn't noticed mysterious figure slowly moving from one tree to another behind her.

Later…

After long time of searching, Barkhorn still didn't found anyone or any way out of the forest. She was already tired of this.

"I'm gonna be crazy!"she exclaimed"If I don't find anyone in…"

Barkhorn's eyes then landed on a man standing between the trees. He was doing nothing, just standing there. She decided to talk to him.

"Finally someone. Can you show me how to exit this forest?"Barkhorn asked.

Man didn't replied.

"Hey, you. You even hear me?"

As she approached the man, he started to turn around. And when she saw his face, she almost screamed from shock.

He was all covered in blood, while skin from left side of his face was literally ripped off., showing everything under it. In the middle of his chest was a giant hole, through which his lungs and heart was seen.

"_What is happening here?_"Barkhorn asked herself.

In response, man suddenly jumped on her. With his mass, he pushed her towards a tree, when he collided with her. Next, he crawled up and opened his mouth, trying to bite Barkhorn's head. But she quickly activated her Super Strength, confident that she'll menage to push him back.

She was wrong.

Monster, because he couldn't be called man anymore, turned out to be more powerful, that it looked. He slowly closed his mouth to Barkhorn's face…

There was a shot. Few drops of blood landed on Witch's face, when monster stopped moving and collapsed on her. She quickly threw him from herself. Next, her eyes started to close, when she heard a voice:

"God, what are you doing here?"

Some time later…

Series of shots woke her up and her eyes again slowly started to open. She felt, that she's laying under the wall, with backs to it. After turning her head right, Barkhorn noticed that she's in some sort of cottage.

Another series of shots could be heard. Barkhorn turned her head again, to see a woman standing in front of window and firing from something resembling riffle.

The woman had long black hair and brown eyes. She was dressed in camouflage uniform with forest pattern and bulletproof vest. On her waist, she had a belt with magazines and grenades. It was strange for Barkhorn to see a woman in such equipment.

When woman reached another magazine to reload, she noticed that Barkhorn's awake.

"Hey, you."she said to Barkhorn"Can you use riffle?"

"Sure I can."Barkhorn immediately replied.

"Then take this RA4 and help me in pushing them back."the woman ordered.

She took second riffle, which was laying next to her, and threw it to Barkhorn. Witch caught the riffle and looked at it. She found some similarities with StG 44.

Barkhorn stood up and came to the window. There, she could see another group of monsters approaching the cottage. All of them looked like humans, but after the meeting that one earlier, she knew what to do with them.

She aimed her riffle at the group and fired together with woman. It wasn't been hard, because after two or three hits, these things were just dying. In the next five minutes, they killed around sixteen of them.

"Look out!"the woman exclaimed.

One of monsters somehow sneak to the side window on the wall, under which Barkhorn was sitting earlier. Witch quickly turned around and fired. Bullets made the monster's head explode. Next, she turned back to the window she was standing next to.

By next half-hour, another two, more numerous groups appeared. Sometimes, some of monsters managed to came close and grab woman or Barkhorn, but they dealt with them quickly.

When everything was over, the woman looked outside to see, if there's any other danger. Fortunately, she didn't spotted anymore of these things.

"Alright. Clear. Let's go to my hideout."the woman said to Barkhorn.

They exited the cottage and scanned the area once again. After stating they're safe for sure, they turned towards forest and entered it.

"Thanks for helping me."Barkhorn said to woman.

"No problem. These things already killed too many."woman replied.

"If I can ask, why are they looking like humans?"Barkhorn questioned.

"They might look like humans"woman stated"but they aren't. Not anymore".

This answer had to be enough.

"By the way, where are we?"she asked again.

"We're in the quarantine region of V-Lay Virus"woman explained.

"V-Lay Virus? Never heard of".

"Nothing strange. Media don't say anything about it".

After another moment of silence, Barkhorn spoke again:

"Who are you, if I can ask?"

"Colonel Jessica Richards, 11th Marines Regiment."woman, now named Jessica, replied."And you are…?"

"Captain Gertrude Barkhorn, 501st Joint Fighter Wing 'Strike Witches'."Barkhorn replied.

After she said that, Jessica stopped and turned around to face her. Next, she aimed her AR4 at her.

"Resistance…"she said, changing the fire mode on single shot"…or Holy Order?"

Barkhorn stood there, completely confused. Which was the good answer? Jessica really was ready to shoot her, if she says the wrong answer.

"And which are you?"she asked instead.

"Resistance."Jessica tightened her fist on the grip."Answer".

Karlslandic Witch sighed.

"Listen. Is this really a good time to fight? Isn't it'll be better, if we just try to get out of this together?"Barkhorn proposed.

Jessica scanned Barkhorn from down to up with her sight.

"Maybe you're right. But once we get to my hideout, you're gonna tell me everything."she replied.

"Whatever you wish."Barkhorn said.

They continued their way to Jessica's hideout. During this, Barkhorn was looking around, from time to time seeing another cottage or some rotting bodies laying there and there. Fortunately, they hadn't met anymore monster on the way.

Suddenly, Jessica asked unexpected question:

"You have any siblings?"

Barkhorn was completely surprised by this.

"Why is this interesting you?"she replied asking.

"You know. I just though that we need some subject, until we reach my hideout. And this was first thing to come into my head."Jessica explained.

"Well then. I have younger sister. Her name's Christiane. Usually I just call her Chris, like our parents were doing."the Witch said."But she's in coma for some time now".

"Sad to hear that."Jessica admitted."I have three: older sister and brother and younger brother. They're all in the military, like me".

"Really?"Barkhorn asked with surprise.

"Yeah. My sister Sandy is in Air Force. Older brother Jason is in armored corps. And my younger brother, Tim, is in Marines like me. Unfortunately, I don't see them very often".

"Why?"

"All of them were assigned to other fronts".

In that moment, Jessica hissed and quickly hid behind some concrete road block, on the edge of little cliff. Barkhorn did the same.

Not far from them, they could see a small house. Suddenly, whole building was covered in flames. Another monster started to exit the building. Although it looked like the ones from earlier, this one was burning.

Barkhorn smiled, seeing the burning thing, because this was something what these things deserved for. But, much to her surprise, flames just disappeared and showed monster's charred body. It simply walked away. On the way, it erupted with flames again.

"It seems like your hideout just got burned."Barkhorn stated, still terrified by monster's backfire ability.

Jessica only laughed.

"You think that I could leave my hideout in the open?"she asked and pointed a tree with red rag on it's branch."You see that red rag? Under it is entrance to my hideout. We need to move quietly, if we want to get through".

"Okay."Barkhorn simply replied.

Jessica jumped down the one meter high cliff, with Barkhorn following her. They were moving slowly, from one cover to another. In the meantime, some more backfire monsters appeared and stood on their way. Jessica killed some of them with knife, when they didn't were burning, clearing the way to hideout entrance.

Once they managed to reach it, Jessica opened entrance to underground bunker, where her hideout was.

Few minutes later…

Barkhorn was sitting at the table in the main room, while Jessica was looking for something in bag laying under the wall.

"What are you looking for?"the Karlslander asked.

"Something for you."Jessica replied."There it is".

From the bag, she took a pair of military camouflage pants and threw it to Barkhorn. Witch caught them and looked at Jessica.

"Better dress up. You can't walk only in your underwear."the woman explained.

Witch looked at the pants. There was one little problem with them.

"Aren't they little too big?"she asked.

"Just put them on. It's only thing you have to do."Jessica insisted.

Trude probably had no other choice. She started to put the pants on.

When she did it, pants suddenly started to change it's size and now, they were just ideal for her. She looked at Jessica, with awe.

"That…was unexpected."Trude admitted.

"That's why our uniform producers make them in one size. Resistance uniforms adjust to silhouette of the person wearing them."Jessica explained.

Witch just nodded her head.

"Now"Jessica said, sitting down at the table"we have some things to talk about".

"We surely do."Trude stated."I have first question. What date it is and where are we?".

Jessica gave a confused look to her.

"Surely strange first question"she stated"but I'll answer it. It's May 12, 2150 and we're on planet Feres V".

Trude was stunned by this answer. She expected anything, but not that she's in the future. And on different planet!

But one thing was good.

"At least, it means that Neuroi were defeated."she said with relief.

After hearing the term 'Neuroi', Jessica looked at her quizzically.

"Sorry, but what's Neuroi?"she asked.

This time, Barkhorn was the one to give confused look to Jessica.

"You don't know? I though that everyone heard of their attacks in 1914 and 1939."she stated.

Jessica looked at her with bigger puzzle.

"Eh, no. 1914 and 1939 are years, in which World War 1 and World War 2, the most devastating conflicts in human history, broke out."she said.

Trude though about it for a moment. A theory appeared in her head, but she hoped she's wrong.

"If we're on different planet…Give me a name of one of countries of Earth!"Trude asked.

"United States of America"Jessica immediately replied.

Witch was just sitting there. So, however. Her theory was right.

"It can't be true. It just…"She tried to force self to not believe, but it was worthless.

"Something's wrong?"Jessica questioned.

Barkhorn stretched back of her head and replied:

"Listen. I know it's hard to believe, but…I'm from different world".

"Really? If that's so, give me an evidence."Jessica crossed her arms.

At these words, Barkhorn activated her familiar. When German Pointer ears and tail appeared on her head and lower back, Jessica almost fell from chair from surprise.

"Okay, now I believe you."she said, with eyes still widened."But how?"

"I better start from the beginning."Barkhorn proposed.

She sat down and started to talk.

While she was doing it, Jessica's face was becoming more and more surprised, when she was receiving answers on her questions. After Barkhorn ended, she was trying to digest all of this.

"Wow. Witches, aliens during World War 2, Striker Units…Your universe surely is…specific."she summed.

"Yeah. But you don't have something like that here?"Barkhorn questioned.

Jessica shook her head.

"No. In our world, witches are often known as old ladies with pointed hats, black cats and flying on brooms."She then though."At least, the part with flying on brooms agrees".

"I don't know what is about these hats and cats, but yeah, brooms are true. However, as I said, Striker Units supplanted them."

Woman then stood up and said:

"Okay, listen. We're getting out of here tonight. Better let's go pack everything."

Trude then heard grumble in her stomach.

"Do you have something to eat here?"she asked.

"Yes I do. Kitchen is behind these door."She pointed at door in opposite of the room.

Barkhorn thanked Jessica with nod. She stood up and walked into the kitchen, where she found some loafs of bread and slices of ham.

"_Normal sandwich is good too_"Barkhorn stated in mind.

She took bread and ham and made herself a sandwich.

But before she could bite it, she noticed strange, thin, cylindrical object laying on the dresser. She didn't knew hwy, but something was telling her to touch it. She came up to it, put the sandwich down and took the object.

One she did it, she felt something resembling button on it. When she pressed it, the blue beam of energy came out of it. Barkhorn looked at it with awe.

"You like my sword, huh?"Jessica asked, standing in the door.

Barkhorn looked at her, precipitated from the trance, and again at beam.

"Surely it's interesting."Witch agreed."But it's a sword? I never saw anything like that."

"This thing was part of project aimed to create new type of white weapon, with blade made of pure energy. Unfortunately, the money ran out and project was abandoned."Jessica explained."Only twenty of them were made, with me having one."

"Sword created of pure energy? Doesn't sound too smart."Barkhorn stated, putting the sword down.

"Yeah. There were also experiments with telekinesis, but were abandoned too."Jessica ended."Let's now go. We need to pack ourselves".

"Can I just eat?"

Woman nodded her head, leaving, while Barkhorn returned to eating sandwich.

Few minutes later…

When Barkhorn ate the sandwich, she started to help Jessica with packing everything they needed. It was food, ammo and some medical things.

"Listen…What is Holy Order?"Barkhorn asked and after seeing Jessicas expression, added:"You know, that thing you asked when you wanted to know where I belong to."

Jessica looked down, with her expression changing into unpleasant one.

"As I said, I belong to Resistance. Holy Order is the thing we're fighting with."Jessica replied."But I start from the beginning."

She sighed and started talking:

"Everything started in year 2070, when colonial government on Mars declared independence. This event marked the start of Secession Wars. My grandfather fought in it as pilot. War lasted two years and ended with stalemate. Mars became independent and it's militias changed into organization known as Settlement Defense Front, or SetDef in short."

"So they were rebels?"Witch asked.

Jessica shook her head.

"They weren't rebels. By next almost 30 years, they were just sitting. It was true, they were attacking ships, introducing reigns of terror on planets they occupied…But they were still in peace with us. Until the year 2100."

"What happened then?"

"It was a year, in which they started full scale invasion of Earth. After many battles and many soldiers lost, we captured Mars and SDF High Council members, defeating SetDef once and for all. However, small portion of their fleet managed to sneak into Unknown Regions, the regions of Milky Way still not colonized. There, under the leadership of High Leader Broke, they started to rebuild and re-arm. We knew they return one day, but top brass was saying that we handle them easily."Jessica shook her head."How wrong they were."

She took her AR4 and checked ammo in it's magazine.

"SetDef returned, right?"Trude continued to ask.

"Yup. In 2130, now under the name of Holy Order, they launched an attack on one of Four Human Nations, and Earth's most important ally, the Federal Principality of Minenia. In just a week, they steamrolled over planet of Verdica VII. Now, after 20 years of war, they control majority of galaxy."Jessica ended.

"You didn't had anything to stop them? And Minenian military?"

"Minenia didn't had military. United Nations Expedition Corps, contractual military of Earth, was called only when it was needed and Minenians could join it, as UNEC stationed in Minenia too. Resistance is descendant of UNEC."

Witch was now thinking about everything she heard. She had few more questions, but Jessica said she'll answer them another time.

"Let's go."she said, putting the backpack on."We have to meet with our evac in the nearby town."

The two exited the hideout and turned to nearby town.

18:44

Hilley Town

Barkhorn and Jessica were already entering the town. What was most surprising for the Witch, was that the town looked a little like some town on Earth, but well. It was probably Earth's colony.

Witch looked around. Everywhere she could see dead bodies or blood stains. On some walls she also saw inscriptions painted with blood and saying 'Help us!' or 'Get out of here'.

"If this place is contaminated with this V-Lay Virus, why are you here?"Barkhorn asked.

"Me and my squad had to find daughter of one of Resistance founders. She was here on vacation, when the Virus started outbreak. Unfortunately, we found only her corpse."Jessica replied.

"And what about your squad?"

"Eaten or infected with virus."

A shiver came through Barkhorn's back. She didn't wish anyone to be changed or eaten by one of these things.

Suddenly, two dog-looking monsters ran out of nearby alley. Jessica quickly took them out with her riffle.

"That was close."she said.

"This Virus also affects animals?"Barkhorn asked, looking at dead dog monsters.

They looked like that one that attacked her before. Some of their skin literally dropped out, revealing some of their internal organs. Teeth were exposed, with both eyes misted.

"Yes. Unfortunately."Jessica replied.

On their way further, they met another two human-looking creatures, eating a body. Two quick shots in heads and the way was clear.

They then heard a sound of engines. When they looked up, they saw Resistance K-92 Skyhawk dropship flying over the town.

"Wow."Barkhorn said, after seeing it.

"That's our extraction. Let's go."Jessica said.

They approached next turn.

And immediately stopped behind it.

On a street behind the turn, was a giant cluster of Virus infected. Dropship was hovering over the town's square, with monsters approaching it.

"I didn't though about it."Jessica stated, biting her lip.

"About what?"

"About engines attracting all infected from nearby area."

"So what now?"

"I have one option."Jessica took her energy sword and activated it."Let's just slash through them."

Trude wanted to protest, but before she could say anything, Jessica rushed forward and landed inside of the cluster, cutting infected into pieces with her sword. Witch had no other choice, than join her.

"Welcome on the party!"woman exclaimed, slashing another infected in half.

"Just try to break through! This was all your idea after all!"Barkhorn shot back.

Right then, one of infected grabbed her by her neck. She tried to do something, but his grip was more and more stronger.

Then, a bullet hit it's head and he released the grip. Barkhorn looked in the direction, from which the bullet came from, and saw soldiers from dropship firing too.

"Okay, move!"Jessica shouted.

She cut the way through infected, letting the two to quickly run and jump into the dropship, which was now hovering over the square.

But one of infected caught up with them and grabbed Barkhorn's leg.

"Let go!"she shouted at him.

She kicked him in face, forcing him to let her go. Now, the dropship was flying towards the stratosphere.

19:09

Feres V's orbit

When ship was on the orbit, Barkhorn and Jessica sat on the bench attached to the wall.

"I have to admin. You did well out there."Jessica said, nodding her head.

"Thanks. You too."Barkhorn admitted.

"Seven years of military training and next four of officer training. I have enough experience."

Then, one of soldiers in the dropship, the one with helmet decorated with two red stripes, approached them.

"Colonel, good to see you. Is this the daughter of this founder?"he asked.

Jessica only shook her head.

"No. It's a longer story."she replied."Wanna listen?"

"Why not. We have two hours, before we reach the ships."second soldier, with blue stripes on helmet, said.

Woman then started to tell how it was. How she met Barkhorn, what was about her and why she was dressed in her uniform.

After hearing this, both soldiers took their goggles off and widened eyes.

"So. You're from alternate reality, where you fight aliens in World War 2. Witches are the last line of defense. And these Striker Units were used to make you more effective in battle, because brooms were outdated."first of soldiers summed.

"In short, yes."Trude said to him.

Soldier with blue stripes on helmet hit the one with reds in back of head.

"Told ya, Ivan. Multiverse is real!"he exclaimed victoriously.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Whatever."Ivan replied.

"We're approaching fleet."pilot communicated.

Barkhorn looked at Jessica.

"If we're in space, what are the power of your fleet?"Witch asked.

"Task Force 03 consists of one _Gen._ _Juan Salazar_-class Heavy Cruiser, one _Andromeda_-class Aircraft Carrier, three _Rio de Janeiro_-class Assault Destroyers, five _Chandelier_-class Heavy Frigates and six _Shneider_-class corvettes."Jessica replied.

Karlslander nodded.

"Impressive, I must say."she said.

Ivan laughed.

"Wait until you see it."he said.

Witch stood up and looked through window-imitating screen on the dropship's door. Now, it changed into view of front camera and was showing the Resistance fleet. Her jaw almost dropped, seeing the group of ships on the screen.

"Which one is the one you stationing on?"she asked Jessica.

"It's RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, the Heavy Cruiser. You know Eisenhower personally?"Jessica replied.

"No. But one of my squadron members was serving under his commands."

"Prepare for docking."pilot announced again.

Then, light in ship's transport part changed into red.

Few seconds later…

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _load

Dropship landed in Cruiser's load and the four quickly left it.

Trude looked around. Whole place was filled with soldiers in Marines uniforms, trucks, cars and tanks. There also were two legged robots, carrying boxes and bigger projectiles.

"Honestly, I though that in the future, ground vehicles would…"she looked at Jessica"…levitate, or something."

"When you like some style, you keep with it. So. Cars have wheels, tanks have caterpillars."Jessica replied.

Barkhorn looked at ground vehicles. Some cars had machine guns on their roofs and tanks had reliefs on their guns and curved fronts of towers. Guns also looked to have bigger caliber that Tiger, for example.

"And what these tanks are?"Barkhorn asked.

"These are Challenger 6s, Leopards 5s and M5R Shwarzkopf. Main armor fists of Resistance."Jessica replied."Although, first tanks of these lines were developed back in 20th century."

Right then, one of bridge crew came up to them and said:

"Colonel Richards. Captain Eriksson wants to see you two on the bridge."

"Why?"Barkhorn asked, but Jessica quickly explained:

"While you was making yourself a sandwich back on the planet, I called captain and said him about you. I told him that you're from different world and you're a Witch."

Trude sighed.

"Let's move then."

They followed bridge crew member.

21:21

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _Bridge

Jessica and Barkhorn, with accompany of Bridge crew member, entered the Bridge, where Barkhorn looked around. Everywhere were analysts, weapons controllers and flight controllers sitting at numerous consoles. In the middle, there was a holographic map of Milky Way divided in red and blue. But, as she predicted, red was dominating.

Captain Eriksson was a middle aged man in middle of his 50s, wearing navy blue Resistance Navy captain coat and white hat with white peak. His coat was decorated with medals and in his hand he cane. On his face, he had black beard and mustache, with some gray traces. His eyes had light blue shade.

"Jessica, good to see you. And your companion."he said, as the two stood in front of him."I guess that you're this 'Witch' Jessica told me about?"

"Yes, it's me."Barkhorn replied.

Eriksson nodded.

"I see."Then, he turned to Jessica again."What about Supreme General Qing's daughter?"  
Jessica only shook her head.

"We didn't saved her, Sir."she replied.

Captain sighed.

"Okay then. Planet is lost anyways."Eriksson turned to one of weapons controllers."Open fire. We can't let the virus to spread on other planets. Let's raze everything with the ground."

Trude then raised her hand.

"I have question? Do you have any free cabin here? I'm, honestly, really tired by everything what happened today."she asked.

"Of course. First Officer Sammer!"Eriksson called his First Officer.

First Officer Egon Sammer was a young man, mainly in Barkhorn's age, with short brown hair and green eyes. He was dressed in navy blue uniform with his name on badge and First Officer straps on his shoulders.

Sammer stood next to Eriksson and saluted, when captain said:

"Please, lead this lady to one of free cabins. She needs to rest."

"Of course."Sammer replied."Please, follow me."

Two of them left the Bridge, while Eriksson looked at Jessica.

"Well then. I think, it's time for you to tell me the rest of what she told you."he stated.

"I think the same. But I must say, her world is really interesting."Jessica replied.

Next, she started to talk.

21:58

Deck 5

After over half an hour of walk, Sammer led Trude to deck five, where her cabin should be. She looked at him once more and asked, sort of casually:

"Where are you from?"

Sammer looked at her and replied.

"Oh, eh…I was born back on Earth, more precisely, in Berlin in Germany."

Barkhorn nodded.

"_So Germany has to be this world Karlsland_."she though.

Right then, she noticed that something, not someone, was about to pass by them in the corridor.

The thing was around over 2 meters high and slim, looked humanoid, had hands ended with three fingers, including thumb. Legs were bent doubly, while it's feet looked like birds claws, also with three fingers. To decorate this, thing had head resembling triangle, with long chin and two pairs of eyes. As clothes, it was dressed in composite armor with Resistance camouflage on it.

As Barkhorn and First Officer passed by it, Sammer and thing nodded to each other.

"Major Kir'Arlan."Sammer said.

"First Officer Sammer."Kir'Arlan replied in fluent English and walked away.

Trude watched it, until it disappeared behind the corner.

"What. Was. That?"she asked.

"Yeah, right. Captain told me what colonel Richards said to him."Sammer said, scratching back of his head."It was major Kir'Arlan, officer of former Nashini Republic Marines Corps. After Nashinians lost fight with Holy Order, their military integrated with Resistance, like other species."

"So he was alien?"

"Yup. Besides, me and Kir'Arlan play chess from time to time."

"Aliens playing chess."Barkhorn shook her head."You don't see it very often."

"Major is just fascinated in Human culture. His species was also one of first ones humanity made peaceful contact with."

They walked next few meters and stood in front of door.

"There it is."Sammer said.

He opened door and Barkhorn entered inside.

Room was not big. It had one bed, with night table next to it. There were some shelfs and a wardrobe. TV was hanging on the wall, with TV control laying on the night table.

"Sorry, but it's best we can afford. You know. We're few million light years away from Earth. There's a war. We're losing."Sammer explained."Almost all of Resistance budget goes for weaponry, so…"

"It's understandable."Trude stated."Can you now go? I want to undress."

She came up to bed and took her uniform off, when she noticed that Sammer's still standing in the door.

"Undress? You have something to dress to sleep?"he asked.

"No. I sleep naked, to not crumple my uniform."she replied.

Sammer's face immediately turned red.

"N-Naked?"Sammer asked.

"Yeah. Is something wrong?"

"No, no. I…I just go now."

When he walked away, Barkhorn undressed and opened wardrobe.

"Huh. At least, hangers look like always."Trude said to herself.

She hanged her uniform, bra and pants given to her by Jessica, entered bed and covered with quilt.

"_Well. I must say, that this is interesting situation. I landed in alternate world, in the future and in the middle of war, on whom the fate o galaxy depends. If I return back to my world, I will had things to tell_. _I also have some more questions to Jessica._"she though, before finally falling asleep.

But before it happened, she could hear the fire of ship cannons, bombarding the planet.

XXX

**Okay, chapter 1 is over. I though about it for long time, and finally, there it is. **

**I also wanted to point out, that the story is loosely connected to story of _Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare_, as some of you probably noticed.**

**Now it's time for some explains:**

**-Feres V-**forest planet in Feres System, know from it's meter, or even kilometer high trees. It was one of cleanest Human colonies, when it comes to air.

**-Challenger 6-**British tank, produced by Alvis Vickers since 2127.

**-Leopard 5-**German tank, produced by Kraus-Maffei Wegmann since 2145.

**-M5R Shwarzkopf-**American Main Battle Tank, produced by General Dynamics since 2131. The 'R' variant is model produced especially for Resistance.

**-K-92 Skyhawk-**dropship created as develop of Raven dropship, used during the UNSA-SDF War in 2100.

**-AR4-**American assault riffle produced by Steel Arms Fabrications for United States Army and as Resistance main infantry weapon.

**When things are explained, I can say: see y'all in the next chapter!**


	2. Ch2: First Encounter

**With the first chapter done, it's time for second. Today, Barkhorn will try to spend her first day aboard RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_. She also meet new people, with one specific between them…**

XXX

May 13, 2150

07:11

Barkhorn's cabin

When Barkhorn woke up, she quickly stretched and looked into the window-imitating screen on the wall. Witch was a bit confused, seeing stars, except of clouds and Sun.

But she quickly reminded.

"Yeah. Right. I'm in space. It's hard to recognized if it's day or night there"Trude said to herself.

Next, she came down the bed and approached wardrobe, from where she took her clothes and dressed up.

"_Okay, maybe it's time to eat some breakfast_."

Barkhorn came up to doors and went into the corridor. She turned and ran to find some kind of Mess Hall.

"_Maybe I'll look for Sammer and ask him, where Mess Hall is._"

After she said that, from nearby turn, exited man. He had tanned skin, short brown hair and brown eyes.

Barkhorn didn't managed to stop in time and collided with him. Man just looked at her.

"What do you think you're doing?"he asked.

"Sorry, it wasn't on purpose."she tried to justify herself.

"Is something wrong?"Sammer asked.

The two didn't even noticed as he approached them.

"Better try to keep this your friend away from me, Sammer. I wouldn't trust her on your place."the man said and walked away.

Meanwhile, Trude looked at Egon.

"Who was that?"she asked.

"It was captain Alvaro Sanchez. He's always like this. You just need to get used."Sammer explained.

"Okay."Barkhorn said."Do you have any kind of Mess Hall here?"

Sammer nodded.

"Yeah, just follow me."he said

Withe these words, they both went to the Mess Hall.

08:21

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _Mess Hall

After they reached Mess Hall, they went to take breakfast. But when Barkhorn saw what landed on her plate, she almost vomited. It was a giant ball of green jelly.

"What even is this?"she asked, sitting at the table with Sammer.

"It's our chef delicacy: Shakayan Living Jelly."Sammer explained.

Trude immediately turned to him when she heard that.

"You just said LIVING jelly?"she asked in disbelief.

As per her word, a little edging popped out of jelly and waved to her. She immediately turned her sight, but then she saw Sammer putting part of jelly to his mouth.

"How can you even eat this?"Trude questioned.

"Trust me."Sammer said, still eating."It can be eaten as dessert or when it's really hot, but it's mainly eaten for breakfast. It's also contains few vitamins and minerals. And easy. It's true that it's living jelly, but it's produced mainly as food and are not rational. But there are people and aliens who have them as home pets."

Trude once more looked at the jelly. She had actually no choice, but to try it.

"Okay. Here we go."she said.

Her spoon stabbed the jelly and took part of the it to her mouth. She started to chew. And she had to admin it, it was really tasty.

"And?"Egon questioned.

"It's not as bad as I though."she admitted.

"See? Told ya. Shakayan kitchen is one of the best in the galaxy with reason."

Right then, no one other than Jessica, sat with them at the table, also having a plate of jelly. She smiled seeing Barkhorn eating it.

"I see that you're starting to like food made by other species."Jessica stated.

"Well. I never eaten green, living jelly. But surely it's tasty."Barkhorn replied.

She looked at Jessica.

"Listen. There are a question I still wanted to ask."

"Ask whatever you want."Jessica replied, also eating.

"When we were on the planet, you told me that there are Four Human Nations. One is Minenia. And three others?"

Jessica put her spoon on the plate and replied:

"You see, situation looks like this. There are United Nations Space Alliance, which after UNSA-SDF War changed into United Nations Colonial Overseeing Organization, while SATO changed into UNEC, Federal Principality of Minenia, which got independence in 2110 and Laconian Republic and Kingdom of Attica, independent since 2115 and 2116, both with capitals on Laconia Prime and Attica III. Before Holy Order appeared, Laconia and Attica went to war, because Laconia discovered very important resources in Attican territory. War lasted two years, before king of Attica was overthrown in 2127 and then Attica changed into…Fourth Reich."

Creeps came over both Jessica's and Egon's backs.

"What about this Fourth Reich?"Trude asked.

"Nothing. Only thing you need to know, is that the Third Reich was the one who started World War 2."Egon explained.

Witch slowly nodded her head.

"And you have to know, that Fourth Reich was really into alliance with Holy Order, but ultimately they became protectorate and soon after, Holies annexed them."Jessica ended.

"And why did SetDef changed name on Holy Order?"Barkhorn continued to ask.

"This is interesting. When Broke united them under his rule, he declared himself, and I'm being serious, 'The God Over Gods'."Jessica said.

Both her and Egon chuckled.

"Continuing. After that, he said that 'They're the ones, who have to purge every evil and corruption in the Milky Way'. He also created language especially for them and he became living object of their cult."Jessica ended.

"So in short. They started as paramilitary militias, through military dictatorship, ending at religious fanatics."Egon summed.

Barkhorn meanwhile ended eating her breakfast.

"Really good. How do you make it?"she asked.

"Victor!"Jessica turned to the man giving meals in Hall."Call Jokfid!"

Man nodded and entered the kitchen. Soon, another alien exited.

He was short, around in Egon's height, and he really was fat. His head was shaped like cauliflower, with thing resembling an rolled trumped. Hands and legs where bit short and also fat. Skin was covered in short, brown fur.

"Colonel Richards, you need anything?"Jokfid asked.

"This is Jokfid, our Shakayan chef."Egon introduced Jokfid to Trude."She wants to know, how do you make your famous jelly."

Jokfid laughed, what sounded like pig's sounds.

"Let me show ya."

The trumpet on his face started to unroll, until it was fully meter long. Next, it set up over Barkhorn's plate and green goo started to flew out of it. When it was all on plate, it moved and formed ball.

Barkhorn looked at Jokfid, Jessica and Egon.

"You know what? Maybe I go to see what's on the ship."she proposed.

The three looked at each other and finally, Jessica said:

"Okay. You can go."

With this permission, Trude left the Mess Hall.

Few minutes later…

Deck 2

After she left the Mess Hall, Barkhorn decided to go on Deck 2.

"_This ship is really giant. Even Bismarck looks like a toy compared to it_."she though.

Right then, she noticed a person in the second end of corridor. It was a girl, with hair tied the same way as Barkhorn, but they were black instead of brown. As clothes, she had uniform with gray-white camouflage and gray vest. In her hand, she was carrying toolbox.

Girl entered nearby entrance and Barkhorn decided to check what is there.

Once she entered the room, she saw aircraft, so it had to be some sort of hangar hangar. But they didn't had any propellers on their noses, so she deduced one thing:

"Probably they're jets."

She then noticed the girl, doing something with one of the planes. She came up to her and said:

"Hello."

Girl turned her gaze from the aircraft and her gray eyes looked at Barkhorn. She smiled.

"Hi. I'm guessing you're this 'Alternate World Military Witch' that everyone on the ship talks, right?"she asked.

Trude hesitated for a short moment, before she replied:

"Yes, it's me."

Girl stood up from knees and Barkhorn could take better look at her. She radiated with charisma, joy and discipline. But Barkhorn also felt something more than this. Something she couldn't call.

She pulled her hand.

"I'm Ester."the girl introduced herself."And you?"

Trude shook Ester's hand and also introduced herself:

"Gertrude. But friends usually call me Trude."

"Well, then nice to meet you Trude."Ester replied with smile."It's true that you have magic, right?"

"Yeah."Witch replied unsteadily.

"Can you show me?"

Barkhorn though about it for a moment, before she nodded.

"Why not?"

She then activated her familiar. After Ester saw Barkhorn's ears and tail, she giggled.

"What is so funny?"Trude asked.

"Nothing. It's just…With these ears and tails, you remind me my German Pointer, Sally."Ester explained.

"You're saying, that I'm looking like a dog?"

"No. Of course not."

Ester then returned to her work, still giggling, while Trude turned her familiar off.

"What are you even doing here?"she asked.

"During the last battle, one of enemy Aces shot my fuel line. I decided to finally repair it."Ester replied.

Barkhorn was confused. Not once, not twice she saw what happens, when plane is hit in fuel line.

"If you was hit in fuel line, shouldn't you…"she started to look for good word, but couldn't find any"…explode?"

Ester just waved her hand, what probably had to mean 'No'.

"Easy, European Union Joint Military designed Eurofighters Cyclones with special system to not let this happen. When fuel line is hit, system immediately cut off fuel inlet. Next, it changes into backup line."

"_I think that Yeager would be really willingly to hear this_."Trude stated in mind.

Right after that, one of Bridge crewmen entered the hangar.

"Barkhorn, captain Eriksson want to see you."he said.

"I'm coming."both Ester and Trude said.

Silence appeared, when they both looked at each other. Even crewman couldn't say anything about it.

"Wait. What's your full name and rank?"Ester questioned finally.

"Captain Gertrude Barkhorn of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing 'Strike Witches'."Trude replied."And you?"

"Major Ester Barkhorn of Resistance Air Force 87th Space Superiority Squadron 'White'."Ester replied.

Then, Ester's face darkened.

"Tell me, when did you scored your first aerial victory?"she asked.

"During my 120th flight in 1941."Trude replied, don't knowing what she meant.

"Unit you was assigned to, when you ended military school?"Ester continued to ask.

"JG 2 in 1939."Witch continued to answer.

Ester hesitated before last question, when she finally asked it:

"What is your home city?"

"Kaiserberg, in East Prussia."Trude said last answer."But why do you wanted to know all of this?"

Meanwhile, Ester just sat down next to her plane, with little shock visible on her face.

"If Kaiserberg is the same as Königsberg, then…"She turned her face to Trude."The same was with my great grandfather."

"And what was his name?"Witch questioned.

"Gerhard Barkhorn."Ester replied.

Another moment of silence hung between the two. Bridge crewman was still there, waiting to see what will happen.

Trude then realized, what Ester was talking about this whole time.

"Wait. It's impossible. You mean that I…"She couldn't say the last sentence.

"…in your world, you're feminine version of grandpa Gerd."girl ended instead of her.

"Say what?!"Trude exclaimed.

This was too much for her and she felt, that she starts to collapse. Before she hit the ground, though, Ester shook herself from shock and caught her. Next, she looked at crewman.

"What are you looking at?! Help me take her to Medical Bay!"she ordered.

Crewman came up to her and together, they carried Trude to Medical Bay.

11:21

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _Medical Bay

Trude slowly started to open her eyes. She saw people in white uniforms, walking between white beds, on which other people, probably wounded, were laying. She also orientated, that she's laying on one too.

"Good that you're awake."Ester said.

Ester was sitting on her left side. What was more surprising, Sammer was with her too.

"Can you tell me what happened?"Trude asked.

"Well. When you learned, that you're feminine version of my great great great great grandfather, you fainted. So, I carried you there with help of Bridge crewman."Ester explained.

Trude nodded.  
"Yeah, now I remember. That truly was shocking."she admitted.

"But to be fully sure, I made DNA test."girl added.

Witch pondered, after hearing that.

"DNA test? How?"Trude asked.

"Simple."Sammer started."Doctors took some of your and her saliva, did some tests and we now have results."

"And how it is?"Trude turned to Ester.

Girl nodded her head and replied:

"Clearly positive. We're related in 98.83%."

Witch shook her head.

"So it's actually true. I'm your great grandfather."she stated.

At this moment, Ester erupted with short laugh. Both Sammer and Trude looked at her with surprised expression. She quickly stopped and looked at them.

"Sorry. I just though how fun it'll be to walk around with my grandpa as hot teenage girl."she explained.

Trude wrinkled her eyebrow and asked:

"Did you just called me 'hot teenage girl'?"

"It's not my words. I heard two Marines, Ivan and Grigori, saying that."Ester justified herself.

Right then, Trude reminded, that it was Ivan and Grigori, who helped her and Jessica escape from infected planet.

"Oh, just when I find them…"she promised.

"Maybe better hold your killer instinct. You don't want to land in front of military court, right?"Sammer asked.

In that moment, buzzing sound appeared. Sammer rolled up his sleeve, showing a strange device on his forearm. It covered half of forearm and screen was on top of it.

Sammer read the message and turned to two girl:

"Sorry, captain is calling me. See you around."

He turned on his heel and walked away from the Medical Bay.

Meanwhile, Trude turned to Ester:

"What was this device on his firearm?"

"It was hand terminal."Ester replied, and seeing Trude's asking expression, continued."It's device used to many things. You can write messages on it, watch and record videos or play games. Also, when two people are close enough, or on the same planet, it can be used as long range video communicator."

"Wish we could have something like this back in my world."Witch stated.

Ester nodded. Then, idea appeared in her head out of nowhere.

"Hey, what if I teach you how to fly Cyclone?"she asked.

Trude was surprised by this proposition.

"Wait. I have to sit behind the rudders of that thing?"she replied.

"Yeah, but easy. Cyclone is even easy to learn."Ester tried to calm her down. Next, she added quieter."In times like this, planes with controls easy to learn are needed to quickly sent even greatest idiots on frontline."

"What?

"Nothing. Just that plane is idiotproof and I'm sure you're not idiot."

Witch cocked her head a little bit right, looking at Ester.

"Okay, let it be."she said.

Right then, a strange thing appeared in the Medical Bay. It was small, ball shaped machine, with another semicircle, serving probably as a head, attached to the body. But as it moved forward, the semicircular head was still in one place, while whole ball-shaped body was rotating.

It came to Ester's leg and girl smiled at it. She reached the machine and lifted up.

"What is it?"Trude asked.

"It's TT-9, my astromechanical droid. Such droids are used in many things, like helping with piloting, navigating hacking and even serve as spies sometimes."Ester explained."There are few models and TT-9 belongs to newly developed TT line, produced since last year."

"Interesting machine."Witch admitted.

She tried to touch TT-9, but droid only looked at her, squeaked few times and started to jump. Next, a little flap opened in his body, revealing boom with gas burner. Trude immediately pulled her hand back.

"TT, behave!"Ester scolded him."Sorry, he has no trust in strangers."

She then became somehow smaller.

"And this is the moment, where I have to admin something."Ester said shyly."I may be one of best pilots Resistance have, but I suck in navigation. Back in academy, I had times when I flew out of training area."

"I can understand this."Trude said.

"That's why I need this little guy."

Ester then stood up.

"So. Ask our quartermaster for uniform for you, and see you in the hangar."she said.

Next, she just left the Medical Bay. Trude decided to immediately go to quartermaster. She talked to main doctor, which turned out to be Nashinian, and also left the place.

12:03

RSS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _hangar

Ester was standing next to the Cyclone in the hangar, with TT-9 circling around next to her. He then gave few squeaks.

"I know, I know. Where the hell is she?"Ester replied.

Right as she said that, Trude entered the hangar. Ester noticed, that this uniform actually looks good on her. Even better, than she expected. Once Trude approached her, she was greeted with this question:

"How? You never wore our uniform, but you look better in it, that any other soldier I know."

"I have to know? It's your world uniform."Trude shot back.

"Sorry. I didn't wanted to say it out loud."Ester excused.

Trude just rolled her eyes.

"Okay. Can we start training?"she asked.

"Wait. I must first do two things."Ester stated."First, what took you so long?"

"Your quartermaster couldn't find any uniform for me. He said that you have emptiness in ships warehouse."

"Oh."Ester just said."Let's now make you familiar with Fighter Infantry equipment."

Witch pondered after hearing this name.

"What is Fighter Infantry?"she asked.

Ester immediately came to explaining:

"Fighter Infantry is a special unit of Resistance military, consisting of soldiers trained in both air and ground combat. So, in short, we can serve as pilots and rifleman."

"I see. Such combination is even useful."Trude admitted.

"I know. Now, let's get to the equipment."

Ester reached her back and took her AR4 riffle from there.

"Every Fighter Infantry soldier needs to have it's main and secondary weapons, of course. In my case, it's assault riffle and simple pistol. But combinations can be different."she explained.

"Combinations like?"Trude asked.

"Well. There are squadrons, in which every member is armed with the same type of weapons, but, like in my case, every member have different weapon. We have shotguner, sniper and few others, mostly equipped with assault riffles."

Trude nodded. Ester, in the meantime, came to the uniform."Resistance uniforms have this feature, that they can match with every person body shape, but you ptobably know this already."Trude nodded."Good. The bulletproof vest are made of kevlar."

"Kevlar?"Witch asked with surprise.

"It's synthetic material used in many artificial fiber. It's strong and extensible, making it confortable to wear it."

Next, she came to hand terminal.

"You already know, what hand terminal is. But our terminal have few more more features."Ester started.

"Like?"Witch questioned.

"For example radio beacon, showing your location. But it also has this."

Ester pressed few places on the terminal and holographic image of Eurofighter Cyclone appeared in the air.

"Wow. Cool."Trude admitted.

"Yeah. Not all terminals have holo-projectors, but military ones does. Nice little feature, when you want to watch recordings and photos in full grandeur and quality."Ester turned the hologram off."Our uniforms also have mounted grappling hooks, very useful in weightlessness combat. I show you."

Girl then pointed her right at nearby wall. Before Trude orientated, a small rope with hook at the end shoot form under the terminal and pierced the wall.

"Powerful, flexible and long. You can use it to pull enemies to you or to make you move faster."Ester explained.

She pressed something on her terminal and rope started to roll itself back. After it was done, Ester came to another point and showed the thing on her back.

"This thing here is your jump pack."she started."It's equipped with small engines, used to make maneuvers in low gravity. Thanks to this, you can align your flight, when you start to spin around and fly into space abyss, for example."

"I try to remember this."Trude provided.

Ester nodded in agreement.

"And what about helmet?"Trude asked.

With these words, Ester reached into the Cyclone's cockpit and pulled two helmets from there. She threw one of them to Trude.

"As helmets, we use standard British Army Boxer DL-47 helmet. Put it on."Ester explained, putting the helmet on.

Witch did the same. When helmet was on, it's visor, red on the outside, came out of it and covered Trude's eyes. Next, from two cheek covers on helmet's sides came out two plates, which created some sort of mask, which connected visor. In the same time, elastic collar started to come out of helmet's down part and connecting with uniform. Now, whole helmet was creating sealed shell around her head.

"Fortunately, oxygen can easily come through the mask."Ester continued to explain."While in space, we use our oxygen supply stored within the jump pack. Thanks to this elastic collar, made of elasticium, oxygen can freely fly through all of uniform."

"Clever, I have to admin."Trude stated."But what is elasticium?"

"Material used in production of vacuum suits. It may be elastic, but have hardness of titanium."

Trude nodded and looked at the air, or she should say, spacecraft. She noticed that it have two seats, instead of one.

"Two seat version?"she asked.

"Yeah. Actually, it's Cyclone E, combat version for two pilots. But today, it will serve us as training spacecraft."Ester then started to go up the ladder."You seat in pilot place. I be your instructor."

She then sat in second seat, while Trude followed her and was now sitting in first pilot's seat.

"Okay. I directed all weapons control to you. I will be just giving you orders."Ester said."Little note: this function is used only in two seat variants of Cyclone. Thanks to this, when Weapon Systems Officer will be down, pilot will still be having a chance to fight and escape."

"Sounds smart."Trude admitted.

"Now, close the canopy."Ester instructed."It's that orange switch."

Trude looked around her control panel. She was seeing speedometer, some buttons, other instruments and switches. But finally, she found orange switch and switched it. Canopy started to slowly close, until the cockpit was covered.

However, one thing was strange.

"Who needs canopy, which don't show anything?"Trude asked.

Canopy was not even made of plexiglass. There was no light coming through it, so whole cockpit was covered in dark.

"Easy, plexiglass went out of usage around half of century ago. Today, we use this."Ester replied.

She used her console to activated canopy. Now, Trude could see what was outside, as canopy started to show everything, including the viewfinder displayed directly on the canopy, the same as ammo supply withing spacecraft.

"In these times, canopy is mounted from dozen or so screens, reinforced with titanium on outside part, while screens use image from outside cameras. Thanks to this, pilot, or pilots, are more protected."Ester explained."Now, turn on the engines. You have to press this gray button next to the pilot joysticks."

"By the way, you seem to really care about pilot survivability."Trude said, looking for engine button.

"You know. We're outnumbered. We need to reuse everything we can."the girl replied.

"And why this plane don't have pilot stick?"Witch asked again.

"Joysticks are more comfortable and compact. Thanks to them, you have bigger control over plane."

Meanwhile, Trude finally found gray engines button and pressed it. Spacecraft started to slowly lift up, until it finally hung in the air, around meter over the ground and started to hover.

"Shouldn't we go forward?"Trude asked.

"Easy. Currently, we're in Vertical Take Off-Landing, or VTOL, mode. At now, try to move the plane a little right or left."Ester explained.

Trude grabbed joysticks harder and tilted them in left. On the canopy screens, she saw hangar doors moving right. Next, she tilted the, right and hangar door moved left.

"Very good, very good."Ester nodded her head."We can now go for bigger freedom."She connected with Bridge."This is major Ester Barkhorn. Could you open hangar door number 16?"

"Affirmative, major."Bridge replied.

Orange light started to spin over the door, while these started to open. What was most surprising for Trude, the vacuum didn't started to suck everything out of hangar.

"Why is everything still in place?"She turned her head to back seat.

"It's thanks to the special force field. It separates inside of hangar from vacuum of space. But vehicles and people can easily come through it."Ester replied."Pull the joysticks forward."

Witch did the instructions and, when door fully opened, she pulled stick forward and Cyclone slowly moved forward, until it finally crossed the force field line and were now freely hovering in space.

"What now?"Witch asked.

"Change from VTOL mode into jet mode. You need to switch that red switch next to the engine button."Ester instructed.

It wasn't been hard to find it, so Trude quickly switched it. Before she could say anything, Cyclone launched forward like from cannon, digging both of them into seats.

"Pull the joysticks to yourself!"Ester exclaimed.

"I'll try!"Trude replied, pulling the joysticks to herself.

Spacecraft immediately started to fly slower and both girl started to breath heavily.

"Damn it. We almost hit 9 Gs."Ester stated.

"I guess it's dangerous to hit 9?"Trude asked.

"You don't know how."

Trude shook her head.

"What do I have to do now?"she questioned.

"Now, we practice some fight."Ester said, again connecting with Bridge."Bridge, can you give us some drones here?"

"Affirmative, major."Bridge replied. It seemed like it was always his answer.

Soon after, two MQ-143 training drones appeared in front of fighter. Trude just smiled.

"You know what? I fought drones before."she revealed.

Ester looked at her with bit of surprise.

"Really? But I heard, that you have 1944 in your world."she noticed.

"Yeah, that's true. But 'drones' is the name of small, coreless Neuroi deployed as defenses of bigger ones."Trude explained.

"Oh, okay. Now it makes sense. But let's get to weapons systems."Ester replied."Our planes have three types of weapon: gun, semi-automatic gun and missiles. All are stored in special magazines inside planes. Every joystick have button responsible for different weapon: left for guns and right for missiles. Try the second option."

Trude listened and found the button on top of right joystick. She saw as viewfinder automatically locked onto one of drones and Trude pressed missiles button. Next, she saw orange light flying towards drone, which then changed into scrap. At the same time, weapon ammo number on on display changed from eight missiles to seven.

"Nice. And guns?"Trude turned to Ester.

"Our primary, so the automatic one, is 30mm Gren 3 gun, while semi-automatic is 50mm Pathfinder 2 gun. These guns are developed versions of SATO guns from war with SetDef."Ester explained.

Witch widened her eyes after hearing this.

"30 and 50mm?"she asked with disbelief.

"Yeah. Technology and war always changes and new types of weapons are needed."Ester said."Little note: the 30mm gun button is on top of joystick. And you feel little bulge under your fingers on left?"

"Yes."

"Good. This little bulge is button responsible for Pathfinder. Let's try both on second guy."

Trude pressed the 30mm gun button on the top of stick and saw traces of 30mm bullets flying to meet their victim. Little flashes could be seen, as bullets collided.

"Now, finish him with 50mm."Ester ordered.

Witch pressed the bulge on joystick and 50mm shell fired from gun. It hit drone, which ended like the previous one, as pile of scrap.

"Good, good."Ester nodded."Now, we're gonna try some more advanced maneuvers."

She connected with Bridge again and soon, five more drones appeared and were ready to be shot down.

Two hours later…

"Woo, I think we're done."Trude stated.

By the last two hours, Ester was teaching her some air combat maneuvers, useful in both space and air. She managed to remember all of them and knew when use them in battle.

"Yeah. But maybe I can give you some more lessons in the next days. What do you say about it?"Ester replied.

"Sounds good to me. I have nothing to do by all day anyway."Trude agreed.

"Sweet. We're gonna continue tomorrow. Let's now…"But Ester didn't ended.

Suddenly, the voice from Bridge was heard in their communicators:

"Major Barkhorn, we're detecting enemy ship coming out of hyperspace!"

"Is it something we'll be having problems with?"Ester asked.

"We also managed to get it's identification code and it say that it's…HOS _Exterminator_."Bridge replied, showing traces of fear.

Smile disappeared from Ester's face. Almost everyone in Resistance heard about this _Fouller_-class battleship. It was ship, which had the biggest number of Resistance ships on it's account, with destroying three Grolaki dreadnaughts in single battle.

"Trude, turn around, we need to get back to _Ike_ as fast as possible!"Ester ordered.

"Understood."Trude replied.

However, before fighter could make a quick turn, the said battleship materialized right in front of it, with it's guns aimed straight at Resistance fleet.

"How did he…?!"surprised Trude exclaimed.

"It's called 'hyperspace'. It's allows ships to move with speed of light from one system to another."Ester quickly explained."But it doesn't matter now! Let's get back on _Ike_!"

As per her words, battleship's AA opened fire and wave of bullets passed by single jet, with enemy fighters leaving the hangars.

"I don't think we have any chance of escaping now."Trude stated.

Right then, she got information about incoming missiles.

"Use flares! Their activation button is under missiles firing button!"Ester exclaimed.

Witch found the said button and quickly pressed it. Flares counter lowered the number from 20 to 16, while Holy Order missiles passed by them and hit flares.

After that, Trude saw one of fighters passing by them and turned spacecraft to follow it. One she sat on it's tail, she fired her 30mm gun on him.

"You're sure about this?"nervous Ester asked.

"When it comes to combat, I'm always serious."Trude replied.

30mm bullets easily pierced the Holy Order fighter's armor and one final shot of Pathfinder ended life of enemy pilot.

Trude looked closer at enemy spacecraft. It had shape of spearhead, while Cyclone was shaped more like and arrow.

"What type of fighters do they use?"she asked Ester.

"It's MiG-67. Although it wasn't been made by MiG Company, the guy that constructed them for Holy Order called them like that."Ester explained.

In the meantime, Trude fired one of her missiles at another MiG. Missile hit it's target, but not doing significant damage. That's why he was additionally treated with Gren 3, which easily took care of him.

"You're doing it better than I though."Ester admitted.

"Thanks. You're advices you gave me already are so far useful."Trude replied.

Bullets from battleship were easily evaded by them. Even missiles and torpedoes couldn't hit them.

"Open fire!"Eriksson ordered.

The two saw two lights firing from _Ike's _missile systems and flying towards the Holy Order battleship. Destroyers and frigates, in addition, fired their proton torpedoes, which followed missiles through enemy fighters. They were just 200 from hitting their targets.

However, new guns, inactive until now, opened fire and all of Resistance missiles disappeared from radars.

"What just happened?"Trude asked.

"These are called point defense guns. It's main task, as you saw, is to shot down torpedoes and missiles, as well as fighters and smaller ships, which flew up too close."Ester explained.

Cyclone managed to evade another missile from battleship, then dropped behind next MiG-67 and fired two 50mm shells at him. This was enough to take him down.

"Major Barkhron, we're sending you support. Just hang in there."Bridge communicated.

"With Trude? I think we can make it through."Ester replied.

"Maybe we should take down this battleship."Trude proposed.

Ester looked at her, like she just said, that Holy Order is the good one.

"Are you crazy? This ship is the most powerful war machine in Holies fleet! You can't take him down"Ester snapped her fingers"just like that."

But Trude was not listening anymore. She was already flying into the range of AA guns. In the background, more missiles and torpedoes were disappearing after after being hit by PDGs. New Resistance fighters arrived and started to take care of enemy fighters.

Trude started to evade all of AA fire from all guns now directed at them. Ester was full of both respect and fear. Respect, because after only two hours of training, she was able to easily take down several enemy fighters and dodge missiles and bullets. Fear, because she tried to destroy battleship just by herself and little mistake could mark the end of both of them. She couldn't complain however, because it was Trude, who was sitting behind the wheel here.

Just then they got missiles warning, so Trude again countered them with flares. Next, she locked onto the ships bridge. She pressed the missiles button and saw two missiles going to meet their target. Point defense guns tried to destroy it, but where too slow from some reason, and two girls saw as the bridge disappears in ball of fire. Giant line of explosions came through all of the ship. They saw fire, bursting from holes in lattice, creating parts of ship's armor, mainly on it's sides. Whole ship started to tilt down and broke in half. All remaining crew and equipment were now flying in the space.

All remains of Holy Order forces were quickly take care of, while Ester and Trude watched the destruction of battleship.

"We made it. I can't believe, we made it!"Ester exclaimed."You destroyed the most hated battleship in all of universe!"

"Thanks. Are you okay?"Trude replied.

"Excluding almost total mental breakdown and fear? I'm okay."Ester replied."You're crazy."

"Not as crazy as you think."Witch shot back.

"All units"voice of Eriksson sounded"return to your ships. We're getting out of this system."

"You heard him. Let's go."Ester said.

Cyclone made a turn and quickly flew towards the Heavy Cruiser.

In the same time…

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_

Captain Eriksson landed on his chair and deeply sighed. He predicted that sooner or later Holy Order will know about their presence in the area.

"Captain, everything okay?"Sammer asked.

He quickly turned his eyes on the First Officer and nodded his head.

"Yes. Did you contacted our replacement?"captain replied.

"Of course. Admiral Shroeder of Task Force 32 is en route here. He has to take care of cleaning the virus from the planet."Sammer reported."Command gave the Ultimate Extermination order."

Ultimate Extermination was, as the name says, Resistance's ultimate order, used only in finality. All ships were the ordered to exterminate every life form on the planet and finally planet itself. Whole process had two phases: Bombardment Phase and Destruction Phase. First one was made with usage of nuclear bombs, missiles, lasers and guns. Second phase was made with usage of Drill Bomb, created especially to this task. Such bomb drilled all the way to the core of the planet, detonating giant nuclear bomb with power of 50 megatones.

Until now, order was executed only three times on planets New Jupiter, Tabriz VII and Huliksa Prime.

"Good. Once everyone will be back, we're getting out of here."Eriksson ordered.

"Aye, aye, sir!"Sammer replied.

Then, he walked away.

20:11

Eriksson's cabin

Whole cabin was covered in white light of energy-efficient light bulbs. Two persons were sitting on chairs next to small table, with chessboard on it, waiting for another person to come to the room.

So when door opened and showed Ester, Eriksson and Jessica didn't been surprised, young major gave them asking look.

"Colonel Richards? I though I had to talk only with captain."Ester said.

"Yes, but Jessica also wanted to be at our talk about captain Barkhorn."Eriksson explained.

Ester looked at Jessica and again at captain.

"I did something wrong?"she asked.

"No, I was just surprised, when you decided to teach her how to pilot fighter."Jessica said.

"I was as surprised as her."Eriksson added, pointing at Jessica.

Ester scratched back of her head.

"Well…I don't know myself, why I proposed this to her. I was expecting that she reject, but she agreed."Ester shook her head."And she managed to destroy the strongest Holy order battleship. I still can't believe."

Eriksson and Jessica nodded.

"You're gonna continue teaching her?"Jessica asked.

"Yeah. We're already appointed for tomorrow for the same hour. And on another two days. I also think about asking her to joining my squadron."the girl replied."It's this what you wanted to know?"

"Yes, major. We also already talked to our science team and gave them every information they needed to start finding a way to send her back to her world."Eriksson explained.

"I'm sure she'll be happy to hear this."Ester stated.

"Me too."Jessica added.

Ester quickly saluted and left the room. Meanwhile, Jessica looked at the chessboard and then at Eriksson.

"Tell me, Alvar. Why did you even took this chessboard?"she asked.

"I wanted to play a bit with you, after we end talking with major Barkhorn. Which ones you take?"Eriksson replied.

"I never understand you Swedish. Whites."Jessica stated."By the way, did egg heads told you, how long will it take them to send her back?"

Eriksson send her asking look.

"What? You already want to get rid of her?"he asked.

Colonel immediately shook her head.

"No, I really liked her. It's just…Oh, how to put this? I feel sorry for her. She landed in place she don't even know, while back in her world, she had everything."Jessica replied.

"Yet, she managed to quickly learn basics of pilot air/space superiority fighter and destroy enemy ship."

"True. I just hope that she won't get killed thanks to Ester's lessons."

"I'm sure our young major will be good enough to change her into one of better pilots in Resistance."Eriksson ended.

With that, they continued to play chess.

XXX

**There it is, chapter 2 done. Chapter three is already en route. I wanted to say, that space combat in my execution will not be the best, but I'll try to make any kind meaningful. **

**Now, explaining:**

**Eurofighter Cyclone**-Resistance main air and space superiority fighter, developed as main fighter of European Union Joint Military and was applied first by SATO to replace aging Indian-made Jackal fighter, then by Resistance for mass production in Ganymede and Martian moon Phobos shipyards.

**European Union Joint Military**-founded in 2097, organization serves as military power of European Union. Although European Union is still divided into smaller countries, their militaries united under single banner.

**Fighter Infantry**-type of military formation used by both Resistance and Holy Order. It's precursor was famous Special Combat Air Recon, a formation that made a good name for itself during UNSA-SDF War.

**MiG-67**-Holy Order main fighter, designed by doctor Miron Guyovich and developed by Garaya Starworks Associates, used as replacement of outdated R-7 and R-16 Skelter fighters used since 2086.

_**Fouller**_**-class battleships**-main type of battleships used by Holy Order, developed by Boltana Shipyards. Currently it's suspected that over 100 such battleships were built, but some sources says that it's even 200.

**New Jupiter**-gas giant in Foster System, almost twin similar to Jupiter in Solar System, however it had core like Earth or Mars. Destroyed in 2134.

**Tabriz VII**-swamp planet in Tabriz System, used by United Nations as supply base and main production site of many space stations and freighters. Destroyed in 2141

**Huliksa Prime**-one of Nashinian planets in Huliksa System. Nashinians used the planet as mining colony of natural resources such as iron, copper or silver. It was the richest of planets in it's system. Destroyed in 2139.

**Done. Now, I can only say see you in another chapter!**


	3. Ch3: Battle of Alvus V

**Story of Barkhorn in war against Holy Order continues. Now, together with her new companions, she has to protect very important Resistance world, which can open the Holy Order way towards Earth…**

**Let's start then.**

XXX

May 16, 2150

09:22

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ load

Trude and Ester were on their way to hangar. By last three days, Ester was continuing Trude's training and Witch was doing better and better. Today, Ester wanted to introduce her to her squad personally.

"So you're saying, that you revealed them our kinship?"Trude asked.

"Yeah. You should see their faces, when I showed them the DNA test. Yuko had the best."Ester replied with smile.

Right then, the two entered the hangar, in which eleven Eurofighters Cyclones were placed. All pilots in the hangar were girls and every one was sitting next to different plane.

"Let's now introduce you."Ester stated.

They came up to the first girl, which had long blonde hair reaching half oh her back. In ears she had headphones and was playing rhythm of song on piece of metal on chair next to fighter with French flag on hull.

When Ester patted her shoulder, girl's violet eyes looked at the two. She quickly took earphones out and put piece of metal on chair she was sitting at.

"Sorry Ester it was my favorite song!"girl exclaimed with one breath.

"Trude, this is corporal Arlette Blancharde, White 5."Ester introduced Trude to Arlette.

Arlette looked at Trude and smile appeared on her face.

"Arlette."Arlette gave her hand to Witch, which shook it."Arlie for friends."

"Gertrude. Trude for friends."Trude replied in the same way.

French girl clapped her hands.

"It's awesome to meet you personally. Everyone is already talking about you."Arlette said."Can you show me this 'magic' everyone talks about?"

Trude's face changed into the one saying 'Am I joke to you?'. Fortunately, Ester saved the situation:

"She already showed me. You need to know, that when she uses her magic, German Pointer ears and tail appear on her."

"Oh. Okay."Arlette simply replied.

Suddenly, Trude felt someone grabbing her breasts from behind.

"What the…?!"she exclaimed.

She tried to see who it was, so she turned her head. This person was a girl with her growth, chestnut hair and green eyes.

"Phew, phew, you have something to breathe. Your knockers are soooo cool."girl said.

Next, Trude was feeling one of girl's hand moving down her body, on her thigh and finally lands on her buttock.

"Oh and you have nice ass too."girl stated and chuckle came out of her mouth.

Witch just couldn't stand it. With one swift turn by 180 degree, she hit the girl in her face. After that, girl landed few meters away.

"If you try to do it one more time, I promise that…!"Trude exclaimed, but stopped.

Girl simply stood up, shook herself from dust and exclaimed:

"I have no regrets!"

She then ran towards the Cyclone with Finnish flag on it's hull. Trude just stood there, completely confused.

"_I thought that only Lucchini is able to just grab others from behind, but I see that I was wrong._"Trude thought.

"Yeah…Please, meet second lieutenant Suvi Felinainen, White 4."Ester said unsteadily.

"What is wrong with her, if I can ask?"Trude asked.

"Hehe, she's just simply perverted."Ester explained.

Trude was more confused by this.

"Perverted? But how?"she asked.

"You see…she watched to much porn. Not only Human, but also other species."Arlette explained.

Witch's face was winced by disgust. How could anyone watch alien species in 'these cases'. That was just awful.

"Let's better introduce you to everyone else."Ester said, taking Trude away.

Once they walked few meters away from Arlette, Ester said:  
"Easy. You're not Suvi's first victim. She touched everyone of us where didn't wanted to be touched."

"I noticed."Trude replied.

Right then, they stood in front of another Eurofighter, having Russian painted on the hull. Under it was another girl dressed in military boots, uniform pants, with uniform jacket tied around her waist and white, short sleeve T-shirt. On workshop trolley and with toolbox next to her, she was making repairs under the spacecraft.

"Pilot officer first class Lena Sergeyevna, White 6. She's our specialist when it comes to repairs and rearming our planes."Ester introduced."Before you ask, yes I could ask her for help in repairing my jet, but I'm also not so bad in repairing things."

She knocked in the plane's sheathing, what caught Lena's attention, because the trolley quickly drove out from under the plane, showing freckled face, mainly on cheeks, with short black hair reaching Lena's shoulders and green eyes.

"Hey. When did you came?"Lena asked, not getting up from trolley and smiling.

"Just seconds ago."Ester replied, returning the smile."Please, meet Gertrude Barkhorn, our new teammate."

Lena then reached her hand to Trude.

"It's nice to meet you personally. You was really hot subject by last few days. And, well, you're actually Estie's relative, so it's twice as nice."

"Yeah, I know."Trude replied, shaking Lena's hand."You're not getting up, aren't you?"

"No. I feel good in this position."Lena replied.

"I can make you feel good in other positions!"Suvi's voice came to them.

Lena just looked in Suvi's fighter direction and gave frustrated look.

"I tell you for thousands time! NO!"Lena exclaimed."Sorry."This was to Trude.

"No, Suvi already grabbed her."Ester replied.

"Really? Sorry for her behavior."Lena said.

But Trude already turned to Ester.

"Estie?"she asked.

"It's my nickname. Everyone calls me like that. I got it since elementary school."Ester explained.

They then walked away, leaving Lena with her own affairs. Of course, she returned to repairing her jet.

Another member of squadron was sitting on chair next to little table, on which cup of tea was standing and Cyclone with British flag on hull. In her hands, she had book. Not e-book, just standard book. Trude saw it's title: _History of Humanity. Since Stone Age till Space Expansion_.

Girl herself had ginger hair and was, as everyone here, dressed in Resistance uniform, but without vest. Her hair were tied in braid, laying on her shoulder. On her nose, she had pair of glasses in black holders.

"This is lieutenant Elizabeth Creekford, White 3. Our favorite historian."Ester introduced the British.

Elizabeth put the book down and approached the two.

"You can just call me Liz."Elizabeth said, giving her hand to Trude.

"And you can call me Trude."Witch replied.

The British moved her eyes from Trude on Ester and back. She did this five more times.  
"Hm. Actually, you even look similar a bit."Liz stated.

Ester and Trude looked at each other.

"Liz is really perceptive. She can notice even smallest details."Ester explained.

"This is why I sometimes help Lena in finding the smallest failures in our planes."Liz explained with smile.

Then, Liz was approached by a girl, smaller by head from her. She had black hair tied in the same style as Liz and also dressed in uniform. Her eyes been blue, while face had Asian features. When she saw Trude, she immediately hid behind Liz.

"Oh. Please, Trude, meet my younger sister Emiko."Liz introduced the girl to Trude.

"Or pilot officer second class Emiko Creekford-Jukotori, White 7."Ester added.

"Emiko, don't be so shy. Ester told us about her yesterday."Liz said to her sister.

Emiko looked from behind Liz and said:

"Hi…"

Before Trude could reply, Emiko hid again.

"Forgive her, she's really shy."Liz said.

"It's nothing, really. I know something also shy back in my world."Trude replied. Then asked."How are you two related, if I can ask?"

Liz scratched back of her head and explained:

"Well…she's my actually my step sister. Our parents adopted her."

"And how she became your step sister?"

Ester and Liz exchanged looks and Ester nodded her head.

"You see. Emiko's parents died in one of terrorist attacks in London back in 2137. She was later among the ruins of their block of flats. People were saying that it was a miracle that she survived. And only she."Liz explained.

Trude again tried to look at Emiko, but she was still hiding. She was feeling sorry for her after hearing about how her parents died. She decided to change the subject.

"And what are terrorist attacks?"she asked.

"It's the type of force solutions made by detonating bombs in public places or crashing planes in buildings. These are the most known types."new voice said.

When they turned, they saw girl with dark brown hair, tied in one ponytail, with light gray eyes. She was the same height as Ester and Trude.

"Ah, yes. This is first class ensign Anastasia Tocchelli, White 8."Ester introduced.

"It's really cool to meet you personally, Trude."Anastasia said, shaking Witch's hand.

"I just hope our work together will be good."Trude stated.

Anastasia laughed.

"Easy. You can be calm about this."she said.

"Let's now introduce Yuko to you."Ester said.

They approached another Cyclone, passing by Emiko's plane with another British flag and Anastasia's plane with Italian flag painted on hull, stopping next to Cyclone with Japanese on it.

Next to it, leaned back to it's hull, was standing another girl with Asian face features, brown eyes and short blonde hair, interspersed with colorful beads, from red to purple. She was playing game on her phone.

"Second class ensign Yuko Hagamoki, White 9. Also known as Computer Maniac"Ester said.

She then patten Yuko's shoulder. Girl turned her gaze from her phone and looked at them. Immediately, she turned the phone off and saluted.

"Sorry, Estie! I again fell in trance!"Yuko exclaimed.

"I will forgive you this time. Meet Trude."Ester replied.

Yuko looked at Trude.

"Oh, hey. You're this Estie's female grandpa, right?"Yuko asked, shaking hands with Trude.

"You can say it like that. But call me Gertrude or Trude."Trude agreed.

"Sweet. You can call me Sixty-Six."Yuko replied.

Witch looked confused by this.

"Sixty-Six? Why?"she asked.

Yuko then approached cockpit of her Cyclone and climbed the ladder to reach it. From inside, she took her helmet and threw it to Trude. Witch caught the helmet and looked at it, seeing kanji symbols painted on it.

"Because I once scored sixty six kills in one battle. Both soldiers and spacecraft."Yuko explained.

"Impressive."Trude admitted.

Then, she noticed the phone in Yuko's hands.

"What it it?"she asked.

Yuko came up to her and gave phone to her.

"It's phone. Samsung Galaxy S24."Yuko explained.

"It's a phone?"Trude said in disbelief.

Japanese girl only sent asking look to her, but Ester quickly rescued the situation:

"Remeber what I was saying yesterday? In her world, they have 1945 and there was no such phones in that time."

"Oh, now it makes sense."Yuko replied, taking the phone from Trude.

"Is this everyone?"Trude turned to Ester.

"No. Only two people left."Ester said."Let's go introduce you to Jackie."

They left Yuko, which returned to her game, and went to another Cyclone. Barkhorn looked at the flag on the hull, but didn't recognized it. It was a gray banner with two darker pickaxes crossed over red circle, with three more, green, blue and yellow, under the red.

Next to the spacecraft was standing a girl, taller from other by head. She had long ginger hair and brown eyes.

"And this is third class ensign Jacqueline Taylor, White 10."Ester introduced.

"Call me Jackie, if you want."Jackie said.

She came up to Trude and shook her hand.

"Good to finally meet you personally, not only listening what others are saying."Jackie said.

"Yeah, it's good for me too."Trude replied.

Witch once more looked at the strange flag on Jackie's spacecraft. It didn't escaped Ester's attention.

"Jackie is from Minenia."she explained."She joined Resistance to take the country back."

"That would explain this flag."Witch stated.

"Yup. Minenian flag surely belongs to group of more interesting flag designs. Gray stands for Minenian ties with soil, red circle symbolizes Minenia Prime, our capital, three smaller circles symbolize Minenia Prime three moons: green for jungle Terminus, blue for glacial Lukanus and yellow for desert Astronus. Two pickaxes are there because, well. Minenia is mainly made of mining colonies."Jackie explained the flag.

Trude nodded. She didn't expected to get free flag meaning lesson, but she couldn't complain about it.

"By the way, Jackie. You saw Dora somewhere?"Ester changed subject.

Jackie scratched back of her head.

"I saw her going to shooting range. Maybe she's still there."she replied.

"Okay, thanks."Ester said.

The two then left the hangar and walked towards the shooting range.

10:03

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ shooting range

Shooting range was filled with sound of gunfire of single gun. Girl with ginger, curly hair and green eyes, with headphones and goggles on her head was training shooting. Every bullets she fired was hitting in the middle of shield.

"And this is captain Dora Heidel, White 2. Our close combat specialist."Ester said, standing next to the girl.

Dora put her gun at table in front of them. She took the goggle and headphones off and looked at Trude, giving her hand to her. Dora reluctantly gave her hand to Trude and shook it.

"Dora, this is Trude. I told you about her yesterday."Ester said.

"Yeah. I know."Dora replied."Sorry, but I have other things to do."

Exiting, Dora went next to Witch. When this happened, she could hear words coming from Dora's mouth:

"You will never replace me."

Before she could ask what she meant by this, Dora left the shooting range, leaving confused two.

"You need to forgive her. I know Dora for a long time and I can assure you, that she was not always like that."Ester explained.

"It seems like she immediately don't liked me."Trude stated."But what do you mean by that she was not always like that?"

Ester scratched back of her head.

"You see"she started, leaning on the shooting range position"she was different before. I met her first time in second class of elementary school. She was moved from different school and immediately everyone just loved her. She was funny, liked to tell jokes, had plenty of friends and was pretty good singer. She won school's song contest. Every girl was jealous about her beauty, her always shining hair and these green eyes. And was brave. Probably the bravest of our class."Her face then saddened."However, one day everything changed."

Trude stood next to her.

"What happened?"she asked.

"We were twelve then. She came to school completely different. She didn't talked to anyone, behaved like there was no one around and from time to time, she was screaming. Nobody knew what was happening with her. And I wanted to know."

"So what have you done?"

"It was like that…"

Then…

April 11, 2144

14:23

Dortmund, Germany

Ester, completely breathless, managed to catch up with Dora on the bus stop. Ginger haired girl only sent sad look to her.

"Dora, please. Tell me. What happened?"Ester pleaded, catching breath.

"No. I promised that I don't tell this to anyone."Dora looked at her."If I would tell this, you would get hurt. I don't want anything to happen to you."

But this didn't stopped Ester. She came up to Dora and grabbed her hand with hers.

"Please. I don't care what will happen. You are my friend. I would never hid anything from you. Friends always tell everything to each other, right?"she stated.

Dora once again looked at Ester and then, tears started to come out of her eyes. She hugged Ester and started to cry.

"Uncle Karl!"Dora exclaimed.

"Hm? What uncle Karl?"Ester asked.

"He…He raped me!"

Ester was shocked by this reveal. Uncle Karl was Dora's favorite uncle, which was always bringing her presents, taking her on trips and he just treated her like his own daughter. She would never suspect him for anything like that.

But now…

"Please, don't cry. You know that…"Ester tried to calm her down, at the same time letting several tears herself."Have you told your parents?"

Dora stopped hugging Ester. The latter reached her backpack and took some wipes from there. She gave them to Dora, which swept the tears and looted. Ester did the same too.

"No."Dora said."I didn't he told me, that if I say anyone, he would kill mum, dad or…"she turned her face"…or you. I couldn't let this happen."

"And when this happened?"Ester continued asking.

"In Saturday. As always, I went to his house to spent the weekend there. We went on a little walk to the forest and…"she didn't ended, because she started to cry.

Ester gave her another wipe.  
"Thank you."Dora said, taking it.

"Why weren't you screaming, begging for help?"

"He threatened, if I scream or say something, he will kill me at the place."

There was short moment of silence, after which Ester grabbed Dora's hand.

"Hey. I'm here, right next to you. You don't have to be afraid of anything. You always been the braves of us. Show it now."she promised.

Dora looked at their hands and smiled.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right."she said.

"Good. Now, let's tell your parents about everything."

After that, they waited on bus to come.

Now…

Witch shook her head after hearing the story. How could someone rape twelve year old girl?

"Only if I could get this bastard in my hands, I would just…"she couldn't find good wording.

"Wow. This story get to you so hard?"Ester asked, a bit surprised.

"I have younger sister. If anyone would rape her, I would just smash his head on the wall."Trude explained and Ester nodded."And what happened next?"

"You see. Sat in the bus and went Dora's house. There, we told everything to her parents. They were just furious and went to police the same day. When everything was told, squad of anti-terrorists was sent to get him."This time, her face changed into irritated expression."Unfortunately. He escaped Earth and disappeared. Since then, Dora changed. She became aggressive and was easily getting angry. In just few days, her whole life changed."

This moment was then cut off by voice of captain Eriksson coming out of speakers:

"All combat personnel! Prepare for combat! This is not a drill!"

"I think we now need to take care of other stuff."Ester stated.

"Right. Let's go."Trude replied.

The two quickly ran to the hangar.

10:34

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ hangar

Ester and Trude quickly entered their squadron hangar, where others were already preparing for the mission. During their way, Ester called Bridge and asked what is happening.

"And you know anything?"Trude asked.

"Give me a moment."Ester replied.

Squadron stood in straight line, while Ester ran to her fighter and took her helmet from cockpit. TT-9 approached her and stood next to her leg.

"Okay, girls. Holies attacked Alvus V. Their defense fleet have been highly reduced and we're only possible support in the area."Ester explained.

In that moment, Yuko raised her hand.

"Yes?"Ester asked.

"Why do we even have to protect this planet? It's just a pile of rocks and sand. There's nothing there."Yuko answered.

Ester and others just palmed their faces.

"Do I have to remind you, that Alvus V is our most important supply, attack and training base. And probably I don't have to mention, that if we lose it, they would have open route straight to Earth."Ester explained."And if we lose Earth, we lose war."

Yuko nodded.

"Okay, now it makes sense."she stated.

"Anyway. Load your fighters and go."Ester ordered."Trude."she turned to Witch."From now, you're White 11. Okay?"

"Sure."Trude replied, entering to her fighter.

"Prepare to hyperspace jump!"the voice in speakers said.

TT-9 drove under Ester's spacecraft. There, special arms lifted him and put in his nest behind pilot's seat.

All ships activated their hyperspace drive and soon, fleet transferred to another sector.

10:39

Alvus V sector

Task Force 03 emerged from hyperspace just on the outskirts of planet's area. Fighting was visible in the distance, as Holy Order ships engaged Resistance defense fleet. However, Holy order had numerical advantage over weakened defense force.

Ships from newly arrived fleet started to open their hangar doors and fighters started to fly out of them.

While White Squadron was flying out of RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, Lena's photo appeared on Trude's canopy.

"So, what's the plan?"Lena asked.

"Simple. We have to get space superiority and then, go on the surface and help our forces on planet. Some of their ships already made it through and are attacking planet."Ester explained, as he photo appeared.

Trude shook her head.

"So that's probably one of reasons, why I had to do photo yesterday."she whispered.

Yesterday, Trude was asked by captain Eriksson, to sign up to Resistance files, if she wants to serve in it. She had to make photo, write all her info in Resistance archives and go through special interview with ship's psychologist.

"I don't think it'll be so easy."Jackie said.

"Hey, we were winning bigger battles, right? I think we're gonna make it."Suvi stated.

As they were flying to the battle zone, ships from Task Force 03 fired missiles and torpedoes at enemy ships. Some of them hit, turning attention of part of enemy fleet towards them.

"Here they comes."Liz said, as she saw enemy fighters on her radar.

"So show them how to fight."Dora ordered.

Enemy fighters then locked their missiles on them and fired. White Squadron quickly countered missiles with flares.

Suvi started to chase MiG-67, which tried to lead her in the fire range of Holy Order ships, but she was faster and hit him three times with Pathfinder and ended him with gunfire. Liz was chased by enemy, which tried to hit her engine, but didn't noticed Anastasia landing behind him and firing two missiles at him. Enemy pilot noticed them, but it was too late and was shot down.

In the meantime, Trude noticed that enemy just appeared behind her and locked onto her. She dropped flares to evade missiles and tried to lose him, but he just attached to her. So she quickly turned towards the enemy ships, around which other fighters from Task Force 03 were already engaging enemy fighters. She flew into one of holes in lattice of cruiser, finding herself inside of ship. Enemy pilot was not so lucky and he crashed into the lattice, while Witch blasted her way with missiles on the other side.

"That was close."she stated.

Ester and Dora 'sandwiched' another MiG-67 and his burning wreck hit enemy cruiser, while Task Force 03 was already in range and opened fire from their main guns.

"By the way, how is the situation on the planet?"Ester asked the Bridge.

"Enemy forces are heavily pushing forward. Our tanks are withdrawing on full front."controller replied.

Girl shook her head.

"We need to quickly finish it."she stated.

"But how?"Yuko asked, destroying another fighter.

Lena fired missiles at two MiG-67s, when she noticed enemy fighter-bomber approaching _Ike_.

"Can somebody take care of this F-59?"Lena asked.

"Leave it to me."Trude said.

She turned towards the bomber, which was evading fire from ships and was flying in direction of cruiser's Bridge. When Trude landed behind him, she was greeted by fire from it's back gunner, but Witch managed to easy evade it's fire. Then, she flew up and attacked bomber from the up, hitting it with gun and ending with Pathfinder.

"Trude, behind you!"Ester said.

Another MiG-67 dropped behind Trude and started to fire her energy gun at her.

"Whoa, lasers?!"she exclaimed.

"Yeah, Holy Order always preferred energy weapons, even during SetDef times. We were traditionalists and used standard bullets."Ester explained.

Witch was evading it's gunfire, but fighter was still following her, until it scored two hits on her left wing.

And then, she did something she trained by last three days, always when she ended training with Ester. She didn't knew if it'll work in combat, but she had to try.

She waited on good moment and pressed the VTOL button, at the same time pulling the joysticks in her direction. Next, she again changed into standard mode and, still pulling the joysticks to herself, she turned the spacecraft by 360 degree and let MiG-67 to fly under her. When it happened, she fired missile, which hit fighter in it's back, destroying it.

"That was awesome!"Trude heard Jackie saying in radio.

"How did you did this?"Ester asked, surprised by what she just saw.

"By last three days, after trainings with you, I was training this. I didn't knew how it end up in in actual combat."Trude replied.

"I see that it paid off."Lena stated.

Meanwhile, Task Force 03 ships already engaged Holy Order ships in close combat. _Ike _was in fire exchange with two enemy Heavy Cruisers, but was actually winning this engagement.

"Much of enemy space force eliminated. Can we count on any help from you?"Eriksson asked White Squadron.

"Of course, captain."Ester answered."Let's do this, girls."

She then launched forwards, where she met with another MiG-67, flying on head-on collision. Both he and Ester fired missiles, but Ester was victorious, as she dropped flares faster. MiG pilot was not so fast and missile hit him straight in the cockpit.

"Wanna join?"she asked the rest of team.

"Sure."Suvi said.

She then saw another MiG-67 and flew in it's direction, sitting on his tail and firing her Gren 3 gun. Bullets pierced through the sheathing and soon whole plane was ripped into pieces. Trude followed her and found target for herself. She sat on tail of second F-59 and fired two shots from Pathfinder 2, easily destroying it. Dora and Liz 'sandwiched' MiG-67, with Liz firing missile and Dora using her gun to destroy it.

"White Squadron, we have one of enemy _Venditor_-class Heavy Cruisers escaping the battlefield."captain of RNS _Tokyo_, one of _Rio de Janeiro_-class Assault Destroyers, said.

Squadron saw as said cruiser turns around and tries to flee the battle. It turned it's engines on to quickly run away and jump into hyperspace.

"No, he don't."Ester provided.

Eleven Cyclones turned around to pursuit the cruiser and easily caught up with him.

"VTOL!"Ester ordered.

On this order, everyone changed into VTOL mode and started to circle around the cruiser, firing missiles, guns and semi-automatic guns. Although ship was firing it's point defense guns, they weren't able to stop every projectile from breaking through.

Liz, Suvi, Dora, Anastasia and Emiko took engines as their targets, while rest of squadron decided to take care of it's hyperspace generators. Trude just evaded fire from point defense gun and destroyed it in response. In that moment, two shapes departed from underneath the cruiser and set up around him.

"We got A-Jaks here."Yuko said.

"And what are they?"Trude asked, destroying another hyperspace generator.

"Cutters commonly used as gunships or anti-fighter ships. They were used back in 2100 during war with UNSA. Old, but still effective."Anastasia explained, evading cutter's fire.

She responded with missile, which hit A-Jak in the back. Liz destroyed last engine, preventing ship from escaping any further.

"What about hyperspace generators?"she asked.

"Done."Jackie answered.

Jackie fired two shells from pathfinder, dealing with last hyperspace generator. After this, whole ship was covered in flames of burning generators, engines and it's weapon systems, including torpedoes launchers and it's guns.

"Let's finish him now."Arlette stated.

Eleven jets lined up in front of ship and all of them fired their missiles. They hit connection between two main ship sides, what started chain of explosions, which ultimately resulted in chain of explosions, tearing the ship apart, in the same time destroying both A-Jaks which were too close.

"And that what I like to see!"Suvi exclaimed.

"Me too."Jackie added.

Trude heard something resembling real joy in Minenian voice.

"White Squadron, whole enemy force in space have been destroyed. Two ships surrendered and we captured five. We're now going to help our forces on the ground."Eriksson reported.

"Copy that, captain."Ester replied."Let's help guys on the planet."

Eleven fighters joined the rest of Task Force 03, which was now setting up, with their beaks turned towards the planet.

"Trude, I have an advice."Liz said, flying next to Witch."Entering atmosphere can be a bit…hot. You have to be prepared for some cooling liquids introduced to your blood. First time can be little dozy."

"What do you mean by this?"Trude asked.

She didn't received the answer, because she heard _Ike's_ Bridge fly controller saying:

"Prepare for entering atmosphere in 5. 4…"

All ships were preparing their engines, heating them up even more. Trude decided to do the same, but didn't knew how.

"Just push joysticks down. Then, when you hear order, let them go."Ester explained in radio.

Witch done what Ester said and now, the spacecraft was shaking from the heating engines. Fly controller gave order:

"Now!"

As he said that, all ships started to fly into the planet's atmosphere. Trude did what Ester said and immediately when she did this, fighter launched forward, pushing her into her seat. Soon after, fighter was covered by fire, which normally would burn any object, but not spacecraft with fireproof sheathing. And it became warmer.

"_Oh, so this is what Liz meant by HOT_"she thought.

Next, she felt something happening behind her, in cockpit. Before she could say anything, she felt five needles piercing the uniform and letting something to her blood.

"_And these are the cooling liquids, I think._"

Actually, now, everything became cooler and heat from outside was not so bad. But her eyelids started to become heavier.

Finally, fire surrounding her fighter disappeared, to show clouds under them. She would like to fell asleep, but she couldn't. She looked around and saw other fighters and ships still coming down, towards the surface.

"Everyone okay?"Ester asked on open squadron's channel.

"Could've been worse."Dora replied.

"But we're okay."Anastasia added.

"Yeah, Liz. It was exactly as you was saying."Trude turned to the British.

Liz threw up her arms inside her fighter.

"I warned you."she simply said.

Meanwhile, fleet was still going towards the surface. Not long after, first Holy Order ships were visible between the clouds. _Ike _and several destroyers fired torpedoes and missiles, which quickly cleared the heavier ships way.

Once they emerged from the clouds, ships started to even their way and were now just flying few kilometers over the battlefield, so the giant open desert, filled with bunkers, trenches and clouds of smoke coming from destroyed vehicles and positions.

Holy Order ships which broke through and were now supporting their ground troops with their gunfire and sending more troops and fighters.

On the ground, traces of shots coming from both sides could be seen, while anti-air fire was turned towards the ships and fighters, continuously firing at Resistance positions.

"Finally air support!"new voice said."This is lieutenant colonel Jason Albeit of the 7th Armored Division 'Desert Foxes'! We're under heavy enemy fire! We lost all our air support! Can you help us, Eriksson?"

"Of course, colonel. Fighters are underway."Eriksson replied."Major Barkhorn, you know what to do."

Ester nodded and said to the others:

"Okay, people. Let's help them."

Eleven fighters turned and followed Ester. They flew in direction of part of battlefield, where they could see fire exchange between Resistance M5R tanks and Holy Order H-22 hover tanks.

"Destroy as many as you can. Make it easier for Foxes."Ester ordered.

She then made a raid over enemy tanks, firing her Pathfinder 2 and scoring five kills with it. Dora and Yuko immediately followed her, destroying another five tanks.

"Danyon, on your left!"colonel Albeit said.

Pilots saw as one of Resistance tanks get hit by energy shell from H-22 and it's tower flies high up.

"Shit, we just lost Fennek 4!"Albeit exclaimed."Don't stop shooting! We can't go down so easy!"

Trude fired her Gren 3 at two tanks. Bullets pierced through the armor and tanks just settled on the sand. Crews exited them and tried to run away, but Resistance tanks didn't let them do it.

"Yeah, eat shit, Holy order scumbag!"Fennek 2 commander exclaimed.

"Enemy armored force is withdrawing. Thank for support."Albeit said to White Squadron.

"No problem. That's our job."Ester replied.

Then, Dora flew up to Ester.

"Ester. Look."she said.

Ester looked around and saw, what Dora was talking about. It was squadron of MiG-67s, colored in gold with purple stripes all around their body and orange canopies. It wasn't been hard to notice them, as other Holy Order fighters were painted in standard grayish-white with red additions.

Few minutes earlier

HOS _Disaster _hangar

Eleven MiG-67s were staying in the hangar. As their commander said, they're Top Aces, Best of the Best and they enter the battle only when they're needed. This is why they were so effective. Always when battle was not going in favor, these eleven fighters were changing everything.

Commander entered the hangar, carrying his helmet under his arm. Other ten pilots quickly stood in one line and saluted.

"Okay, gentlemen."commander started."These ground idiots can't win a single battle, so we have to do all the work for them. As always."

"Sometimes I think that we don't need them."one of pilots said.

"Me too, Sadavir."commander replied."Anyway. Let's burn these scums from Resistance and make our way towards Earth 100 times easier."

"Yes, Sir!"pilots said at the same time.

They started to put their helmets on, their astromechanical droids were loaded into their nests and quickly entered their fighters.

"Dragon Slayers."Dragon Slayer 1 said."Let's bring victory to us today."

Fighters turned their engines on and flew out of the hangar.

Now…

"Dragon Slayers."Ester said.

"Who?"Trude asked.

"The most feared and effective squadron in Holy Order. They're fighting in this war from it's actual beginning, they never lost a squadron member, made over 10000 missions and shot down 32248 spacecraft."Liz explained.

Witch gulped. She once again looked at eleven gold MiG-67s, which were now slaughtering Resistance fighters. With ease, they evaded every missile and bullet fired by Resistance.

"You have any plan to take them down?"Witch asked Ester.

"We just need to shoot, until they fall down."Ester simply replied.

She then turned her fighter towards the Dragon Slayers. Others simply followed her, so Trude had no other choice.

Yuko landed behind Dragon Slayer 5 and fired her gun at him. But he managed to evade her bullets and quickly bounce left. Yuko barely evaded his missile, when he made circle and tried to attack her from left.

"Wow, that was close!"she exclaimed.

"But not as close!"Dora replied, landing behind Dragon Slayer 2.

She fired two missile at him, but Dragon Slayer 2 dropped flares and performed Cobra maneuver, landing right behind Dora. Not soon after that, she was feeling her plane being hit by enemy's bullets.

"Somebody help?"Dora asked, trying to evade him.

Liz immediately answered her call and fired her Gren 3 at him, scoring around five hits, but it didn't made any impression on enemy pilot.

"Eh, why don't you learn that this war is lost for you."Dragon Slayer 2 said, as he bounced left.

Suvi was evading Dragon Slayer 10's fire, while at the same time trying to hit Dragon Slayer 4.

"Oh, I see that you like hard games."she stated."If we wouldn't be on the separate sides of this, we maybe could meet somewhere else. Where is more comfortable…"

"Suv, please. Don't tell me you want to go to bed with enemy Ace."Jackie pleaded.

"Why? I would really like to see if he's as good there, as he is in fighter."Suvi answered.

As it was on squadron's open channel, everyone heard that.

"She's serious, right?"Trude asked.

"Unfortunately."Emiko said quietly.

"You just need to get used."Anastasia said.

Trude shook her head and focused on fighting with Dragon Slayer 7. She fired Pathfinder 2 at him, but was unable to hit him, because he was making all these turns.

And then, she noticed, that from few seconds she hears sound of missile alarm. She noticed, that missile is approaching her from the left. It was close enough to ignore flares.

"Trude!"Ester exclaimed.

In just matter of seconds, without thinking, Witch activated her familiar and her shield. It appeared outside of her fighter and missile hit it.

"Whoa. How did you done this?"Yuko asked.

"It's my shield. We use them to protect from Neuroi laser, back in my world."Witch explained."Only if this uniform and helmet didn't blocked my familiar…"

She deactivated it.

"What was that?"Dragon Slayer 4 asked."They have some new type of shielding technology?"

"Whatever it was, I don't think all of them have this. Just shot them down!"Dragon Slayer 1 ordered.

"General. You know you're now fighting White Squadron?"HOS _Disaster _captain asked.

"You mean that squadron created from only girls? The one specializing in hit-and-run tactics?"Dragon Slayer 11 asked.

"The same ones."captain replied.

Dragon Slayer 1 shook his head. He heard about them, that one time they managed to destroy whole convoy of freighters escorted by around thirty A-Jaks. Every normal pilot would be easily shot down by this number. And they managed to destroy all freighters and half of A-Jaks.

"Now it makes sense. Okay, people."he turned to his pilots."Let's see who's better Ace."

At the same time, Trude was looking for the one who fired the missile and her eyes stopped on Dragon Slayer 1. She quickly turned in his direction and dropped behind him. Next, she pressed the gun button.

"She really think she can take me down?"he asked himself.

Then, he performed Cobra and landed behind her, now firing his gun himself. Which again activated her shield, deflecting bullets coming from behind. Dragon Slayer 1 growled from frustration.

"So? How do you like THIS!"Dragon Slayer 1 said.

He locked onto her and fired missiles. But she countered them with flares and tried to perform a Cobra too.

"No you don't!"more and more frustrated Dragon Slayer 1 exclaimed.

Dragon Slayers leader also performed a Cobra, preventing her from landing behind him. However, she tried again.

And this time, she completely surprised him.

Trude, instead of Cobra, performed her maneuver, which she used back on the orbit. Before Dragon Slayer 1 could orientate, she was over him.

"What?!"Dragon Slayer 1 exclaimed.

Witch locked onto him and fired all her arsenal at him. Soon after, Dragon Slayer 1 was changed into burning wreck, crashing into the desert sands.

Other Dragon Slayers were just shocked, after seeing their leader being shot down by a Resistance pest. It was impossible to shot down Dragon Slayer. It had no rights to happen.

"Holy shit, boss is dead!"Dragon Slayer 5 exclaimed.

"What are we going to do now?!"Dragon Slayer 9 asked.

"Vasil, what are the orders?"Dragon Slayer 7 asked Dragon Slayer 2.

Dragon Slayer 2 just watched as his commander's MiG-67 crashes into the ground and changes into smoking wreck. Now, he was in command, but didn't knew what to do. But he was used to only do orders, not give them.

He took a deep breath.

"Withdraw. We're getting out of this planet!"he ordered.

"We're getting back on _Disaster_?"Dragon Slayer 11 asked.

"Fuck this ship! Set up 90o and get out of this planet!"

Squadron immediately came to doing the order and all remaining pilots set their planes at ninety degree and quickly started to fly towards planet orbit.

"They're running away!"Jackie noticed.

"The same as this ship."Liz noticed.

HOS _Disaster _also started to set up in atmosphere flight position. But _Ike_ and five other ships from the fleet were already approaching him.

"Oh no, he don't!"Ester stated.

Remaining Resistance fighters also turned in this direction. Next, the landed behind the ship and together with Task Force 03 ships opened fire at it. Missiles, bullets, 50mm shells, cannon fire and torpedoes hit the ship in it's middle part, causing giant explosion, which brought the ship down.

Resistance radios erupted with cheers, seeing the massive vessel falling into the desert sands and exploding once more.

"How does it look now?"Ester asked.

"All enemy forces eliminated. Phew, that was even easier than I thought."Albeit stated."Your fighters can use our airbase to land."

"Of course. All units, you have the free time you deserve now."Eriksson said to all pilots.

"Ah, good. Somebody wants to sunbathe?"Suvi asked.

"I mainly prefer normal bath."Jackie said.

"Well. First, land. We're gonna talk about it in the ground."Ester ordered.

Next, she flew closer to Trude.

"Good job out there."she said.

"Thanks. I thought that my first real battle in this world will be harder."Trude answered.

"Nah. It was easy. Be happy, that they didn't had any battleships or Super Battleships."

Witch looked in direction of Ester.

"Super Battleships?"she asked.

"Yeah. Bigger and more deadly. And knowing our luck, we encounter them one time."Ester explained.

Trude was just not asking anymore.

Meanwhile, Dora was flying a bit far from the two and thinking:

"_As I said. You won't replace me. No matter if you're Ester's grandfather or no._"

11:45

Belis Air Base

Fighters and Resistance dropships with supplies for the planet's garrison already arrived at the base. This sudden attack from Holy Order was devastating, as 79% of defense fleet, as well as all fighters and bombers protecting the planet, were destroyed and now, whole desert was decorated with smoke from wrecks of vehicles.

Jessica just exited her dropship with her soldiers. She took off her helmet and looked around the base, where soldiers were taking care of wounded ones and unloading the cargo.

"If not you, there would be nothing to collect after us, Jess"Albeit said.

Jessica turned to him. He was after his 50s, with short black hair and brown eyes, like she did. He was well built, with wide shoulders. He wore standard Resistance Armored Corps uniform.

Woman just smiled, before she said:

"What's up, bro?"

"You should know. You just saw."

Then, he spread his arms and hugged Jessica, easily lifting her up around half a meter over the ground.

"Good to see you again, little sis."Jason said.

"Don't call me like that anymore. I'm 34."Jessica pointed out.

"Sorry. I can't get used to this."he said, putting her down.

She smoothed her uniform, which was crumpled by this hug, and gave another smile to her brother.

"You know who were these pilots that saved us from Holies tanks?"Jason asked.

"Sure. They're the White Squadron."Jessica replied."They're landing right now."

At this moment, they turned to see eleven Eurofighter Cyclones extending their landing gear and landing, with usage of VTOL mode. They taxed on their positions and when ladders were set up, they opened canopies and exited their fighters.

"What are we gonna do now?"Trude asked.

"I heard that this base have cool cold jacuzzi, where soldiers can cool themselves after day in hot desert."Suvi said."Maybe we ask if we can try?"

"Why not."Ester said.

Right then, Jason and Jessica approached them.

"Colonel Richards. Who is this?"Ester said, pointing at Jason.

"This is my older brother, lieutenant colonel Jason Albeit."Jessica replied.

White Squadron members, especially Trude, looked at Jason with surprise.

"Wait. But your surname is Richards, right?"Suvi asked.

Jason sent asking look to Jessica.

"You still haven't changed your surname back?"he asked.

His sister just threw up her arms.

"Sorry, I just don't have time."Jessica stated.

"So your surname isn't Richards?"Trude asked.

"No, I have it after my ex-husband."Jessica explained, then she turned to Jason."By the way. This is Gertrude Barkhorn. There is a specific thing about her."

"What kind of specific thing?"Jason asked.

Woman nodded to Witch. Trude understood and activated her familiar. This made Jason, as well as almost all of White Squadron members, excluding Ester, to jump from surprise.

"Wow, she really has these ears when she uses her magic."Lena said.

"Sorry, but what is happening right now and here?"Jason asked, don't knowing what to say about it. Or if he just don't hallucinate.

"Yeah, she's Witch from alternate world. Easy, I explain everything to you."Jessica said, seeing her brother wanting to ask another question.

And she dis so. She explained to Jason, how she met Trude and how they helped each other in escaping from infected planet. Next, how she destroyed HOS _Exterminator_. Next, she came to explaining stuff about Witch's world.

Not only Jason, but also White Squadron members listened to this closely.

When Jessica ended, Jason scratched back of his head.

"Wow. Hard to believe that it's true."he said.

"But it is. We plan to help her return to her world, but we just started to think about how to do it."Jessica ended.

"Hope you get to your world soon."Jason said, turning to Trude.

"I hope so too."Witch replied.

Albeit siblings walked away, leaving the pilots alone.

"Well then. We're going to ask about this jacuzzi, right?"Suvi continued to ask.

Other looked at her. Suvi understood, why does she wants to go to this jacuzzi so much.

"Yes, we do."Dora agreed."But if you try something perverted, I'm gonna personally throw you naked on the desert."

"Keep you by word."Suvi replied belligerently.

Ester was feeling growing tensions between her squadmates, so she quickly stood between them.

"Hey, we just won the battle. Let's be happy about this and don't fight between each other, okay?"she asked.

Dora looked at her years-long friend and nodded. Meanwhile, Suvi smiled. But this smile was quickly canceled by Ester:

"And by this, I don't mean, that you can do whatever you want, Suv."

"Meh. You can ruin fun."Suvi snorted.

With this case taken care of, Ester nodded.

"Okay. Let's now take this cooling jacuzzi."she said.

Others simply nodded their heads and went to find the base commander.

That night…

Trude's Room

Trude was in her room, folding her uniform and putting it on chair next to her. She still remembered what happened in this jacuzzi back on the planet. Suvi couldn't stand it and actually tried to do some things, which shouldn't be done publicly. Because of that, Jackie flooded her under the water, what resulted in Suvi losing consciousness. Dora was about to really throw her naked on the desert, but Ester stopped her.

When Suvi woke up, Trude was ordered to take care of her. So, she did it. She ordered Suvi to run ten laps around hangars and was putting two more laps every time when Suvi was stopping to take a breath. Yuko was helping, with usage of her Remington R-88 sniper riffle. Always when Suvi was slowing down, Yuko was giving her a shot with paint filled bullet.

After running around 67 laps, Suvi collapsed on the ground. She promised that she would never do naughty things when someone is around and she will try to calm down her behavior. However, everyone in team knew, that she was lying with calming down her behavior.

When Ester asked Trude, how she came up with this punishment idea, she replied:

"This is how I was sometimes doing it with my wingman. She really is lazy."

And now, she was back in her room. Soon, she heard knocking to the door. She came up to it and, using code saved in her new hand terminal, opened the door.

She was greeted by Jackie's smile. Behind her, she saw humanoid robot carrying one suitcase.

"Something happened?"Trude asked, seeing the suitcase.

"You see."Jackei said, entering the room, with robot behind her."I just lost my former room and I was relocated here."

Robot placed the suitcase on the ground and walked away.

"What happened?"Trude asked.

"My roommate was fascinated with Nashini chemistry. He tried some chemicals and blew our room up."Jackie explained, opening her suitcase."Fortunately, some of my things survived and I have them here."

She opened the suitcase, showing several clothes, photo frames and her hand terminal. She started to to put everything on the shelfs and in the wardrobe.

"I hope you don't mind that from now, I will be living here?"Jackie turned to Trude.

"Well no. Back in my world, I had subtenant too. But…"Witch looked at the single bed in the room.

"It's not a problem."Jackie stated, reaching some rolled piece of material from suitcase.

She put it on the ground and unrolled. Next, she pressed button on it's side and material started to grow. Next, she reached quilt, which she also had in her suitcase.

"Air mattress. So problem with place to sleep is solved."Jackie said.

Next, she took the frames she brought and placed them on shelfs. She pressed buttons at back of frames and then, photos appeared on them.

Trude started to watch the photos. They also had signs. One of them was signed 'With Family' other one was signed 'With Friends'. She looked at family one and saw eight people on it.

"You have really numerous family."she stated.  
"You see. I'm youngest of six siblings."Jackie explained."The oldest of us was my sister, Delia."

"They have to be proud of you."Trude stated.

Jackie then looked at the photo and her face darkened. An awkward silence hung in the air between them.

"I'm sure that they would be. If they only be here."she said.

Witch then understood.

"Oh. They're…"

"...dead. Yeah. They were killed in Holy Order invasion of Minenia Prime. Only I survived."Jackie explained.

Although she didn't showed this, Jackie had real sadness in her eyes. And Witch could feel.

"And how you survived?"Trude asked, don't knowing why is she pulling this forward.

"I was hidden under my bed. Delia gave her life, so they couldn't find me."Jackie explained. She shook her head."Blin Holy Order putas."

With turned to her after hearing that.

"What did you just said?"she asked.

"Sorry. I said 'Damn Holy Order whores' in Minenian."Jakcie explained.

"Minenian?"

"Yeah. It's language created from combination of English, Russian, Spanish, Polish, Japanese, French, Italian, German and Swahili. It's easy to learn, hard to master."She thought."In case if you're not Minenian. If you are, it's easy, because they teach it in schools."

Trude nodded, signaling that she understand. Next, she started to undress.

"Better go to sleep now. I'm sure we're going to have lot of work tomorrow."she stated.

"Yup."Jackie said.

She then started to undress too. When they ended, Jackie looked at Trude. He cheeks immediately burned red.

"You…sleep naked?"she asked.

"Why does it surprise everyone so much?"Trude replied, putting her uniform into wardrobe.

"No, it's nothing. Really. Only…In Minenian culture, it's inappropriate for woman to watch other woman naked."Jackie explained.

"You didn't had this problem back on planet."Trude pointed out.

"Trust me, I was ashamed all the time. Especially when Suvi…"They both then felt shivers on their veins. Next, Jackie said, laying down on her mattress."Good night."

"The same."Witch replied, laying down too.

It wasn't been long, until they fell asleep.

Meanwhile…

Dragon Slayer 2 was keeping his hands on his throat, trying to stop invisible hands suffocating him. Finally, there was unpleasant crack and he fell on the ground. Dead.

"Throw him threw airlock."admiral Berren Kotch said to two soldiers.

Admiral was battle harden soldier, serving in Holy Navy since the beginning of the war. He was 50 years old and had black, curly hair and brown eyes. He was son of legendary admiral Salen Koth, which 50 years ago commanded SetDef fleet during UNSA-SDF War.

Two soldiers standing on both sides of door approached dead pilot and took his body. Next, they left.

Admiral turned to the figure, which was suffocating Dragon Slayer 2 with invisible hand. The figure was female, shorter than him. Figure's clothes consisted of black cloak, black uniform and also black helmet, covering all of figure's face with attached mask.

"Good."Koth simply said.

Figure just nodded her head. Next, they both turned to the giant hologram of Supreme Leader Broke himself.

Supreme leader was old. This could be said loudly, but nobody was brave enough to say it in his presence, or publicly, because of all security Holy Order always placed on occupied planets. Bur Broke was surely over 70 years old and was completely bald. His eyes were heterochromic, with one of them being green and second brown.

But most horrific was his face. It was horribly deformed. It was said, that this happened to him back in 2100, during UNSA last, desperate attack on Mars. Others were saying, that it happened when he was just a child. But nobody knew the true origin of his deformed face.

"Dragon Slayers are our best squadron. How is it possible, that some Resistance trash could kill Dragon Slayer 1?"Broke asked.

"We don't know, Master."black figure said."But whoever did this, I promise. I will find them."

Koth only sent unpleasant look to her.

"I already ordered my specialists to find the one who did this. I promise, that we do it in the fastest way possible."he stated.

This time, figure probably sent him unpleasant look, but her mask was covering it.

But before this could end with quarrel or something worse, Broke stopped them:

"No. You're based on one ship, and you find them together. Remember, what are we fighting for."

The two only looked at each other.

"Of course, Supreme Leader."Koth said.

"Of course, Master."black figure said.

"Good. Now, find someone else to replace Dragon Slayers 1 and 2."Broke ended.

Next, his hologram disappeared. Admiral and black figure again looked at each other. Then, without a word, they left the chamber.

XXX

**And done. Chapter three is ready. Fun fact is that I stopped writing this story right on this chapter. But now, I'm going to write it all. And well. Trude met ****Ester's team and now is official member of White Squadron.**

**Now,**** explains:**

**F-59 Break Bird—**Holy Order bomber, designed and produced by Boltana Shipyards.

_**Venditor**_**-class Heavy Cruiser—**Heavy Cruiser created by Garaya Starworks Associates originally as support vessel of _Fouller_-class Battleships. However, ship turned out to be so effective, that finally it was changed from simple support vessel into Heavy Cruiser.

**H-22 Ao'rror—**Main Battle tank designed by Xer'giriz Company for Fez'kilig Consensus Armed Corps, but when Consensus fell under Holy Order control, the tank became it's primary armored vehicle.

**Remington R-88****—**sniper riffle produced by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing since 2130.

** With things explained, I can say bye!**


	4. Ch4: New Member

** In this chapter, our Witch will meet another new member of squadron, but not another Human. This time, it will be someone from only Resistance ally that was not defeated by Holy Order and is still standing it's ground against overwhelming enemy forces. Also, we find out how White Squadron met each other. **

**Let's get into it.**

XXX

May 22, 2150

15:21

White Squadron hangar

Almost a week after events of Alvus V, Task Force 03 was put on standby and had to be ready for engaging any possible enemy fleet or single ship. This time was used by Ester, which trained Trude a bit more and made sure, she won't crash during the battle.

"I think, that you're good enough and don't need anymore training."Ester said, as she left her fighter and approached the Witch.

"Thanks. You're pretty good at teaching how to fly. Why haven't you though about becoming flight instructor?"Trude asked.

Ester simply threw up her arms.

"I'm the working type. I like to be in the center of events."she explained.

Then, they walked out of the hangar and went to their meeting room.

"By the way."Trude started."I was wondering…How did you met the rest?"

"I knew you ask this question one day."Ester replied, nodding her head."You already know, how I met Dora. In the case of rest, it was…more complicated."

"Complicated? What do you mean by this?"

"If there was somewhere to, I would advice you to sit down. But well. I think we need to do it now."Ester said."It was back in the academy. It was nice time."

June 9, 2147

12:32

UNSA Air Academy, Mess Hall, Titan, Saturn

UNSA Air Academy, or Titan Air Academy, was one of most prestige military schools in all of Human controlled areas of Milky Way. It was founded two years after UNSA-SDF War, when Titan fully landed in UNSA hands. Since then, pilots trained on Titan are known as the best in Resistance Air Force.

Jackie was sitting alone at the table, eating her dinner. She was one of only 43 students from occupied Minenia, but even her fellow countrymen preferred the company of Earthers or Laconians.

"Hi. Can we sit?"someone asked.

Minenian looked up and saw two girls. She nodded.

"Sure."she said.

Girls sat next to her. The one with two pigtails gave hand to her.

"I'm Ester Barkhorn. And this is Dora Heidel."Ester introduced them.

"Jacqueline Taylor. But everyone call me Jackie."Jackie introduced herself, knowing, that only her family called her like that.

"Cool. You can call me Estie."Ester said.

"And what about her?"Jackie asked, looking at Dora.

Dora just turned her eyes from her.

"Forgive her."Ester said."Something bad happened to her three years ago and since then…well."

"Okay, I understand."Jackie said.

Right then, Ester felt someone patting her arm. When she turned around, she saw three students from higher classes. Deducing from their smell, they had something stronger to drink today.

"Hey, sweetie."the one with highest rank, boss, said."Wanna come with us for some fun?"

"Sorry, but no. I have something else to do."Ester replied, knowing what he meant by 'some fun'.

"Oh, come on. Just few minutes."second one said.

He approached Ester and stood between her and Dora. Next, he placed his left hand on the table.

"We'll be back before you notice. We can also take your friends."he said.

At this moment, Dora grabbed the fork and hammered it in his hand.

"AAAAAAAAH!"he screamed in pain.

He tried to take his hand back, but with surprise stated, that Dora was stronger.

"Never call Ester sweetie, you bastard."Dora said to him.

Next, she hammered the fork more, strong enough to pierce his hand through. Boy quickly took his hand back and saw the fork sticking out of inside part of his hand.

Before he could do anything, Dora grabbed her tray and crashed it in his face. Now, he was whole covered in Dora's food.

Dora then stood in front of the three.

"So? You want to take us alone?"the leader asked.

"Not alone."Ester said, standing next to Dora.

"But with us."Jackie added, joining them.

Ester sent her friendly smile, which Jackie returned.

"Well then. Three first year students versus three third years, huh? I'm ready to beat you down."third soldier said.

"Not three. Five."new voice said.

Lena and Yuko stood from their table and joined the Ester, Dora and Jackie. They quickly introduced each other.

"Count me in."Liz said, also joining them.

"Not without us."Suvi walked up to them, accompanied by blonde haired and blue eyed girl.

"And me!"Arlette said.

Now, there was nine on three, but it still wasn't been sure, if girls manage to beat the three boys, even if one of them is injured already.

"I see, that we're gonna have real fun here. But I don't think you're gonna beat us anyway."the leader said.

"Not so fast."Anastasia stated.

Now, there were no only first year students in the group, but also one second year student.

"Hey. I recognize you."Ester stated, as Anastasia stood next to her."You was showing us, how to pilot Cyclone, right?"

"Yes I did."Anastasia provided.

"Okay, what are we waiting for now? Let's take care of this!"the leader stated.

At this time, all eyes were turned on them. Nobody was brave enough to move and do anything to stop two groups.

However, right before they managed to catch each others throats, the voice rang:

"WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?!"

Everyone turned, to see fighter drill sergeant. He stood next to both groups and looked at them.

"You, are in one of the best military schools of our time. Meanwhile, somewhere beyond the Solar System, this neo-SetDef is doing whatever he wants, AND YOU WASTE YOUR TIME ON SOME FUCKING MESS HALL BATTLES?! WHO DO YOU THING YOU ARE?! YOU WOULD NOT LIVE EVEN TEN MINUTES ON THE FRONT LINES!"drill sergeant exclaimed."STAND IN STRAIGHT LINE, WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"

His voice went through the Mess Hall with echo, making everyone much smaller than they are.

Everyone who had to take part in the fight quickly stood up in the line, while drill sergeant started walk from one end to another, silent. Their eyes were following him with something resembling fear.

"Now"drill sergeant finally started"tell me. Who started it all?"

Girls immediately pointed at the three boys.

"You little…"the leader wanted to say, but drill sergeant stopped him.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"he shouted in his face and nodded to Ester, ordering her to start talking.

Ester gulped.

"Well…"Ester started."They came up to us three."There, she showed her, Dora and Jackie."And said, that they want to have a little 'fun' with us."

"So I just pierced hand of one of them with fork."Dora added.

Drill sergeant sent unpleasant look to her, but her face stayed imperturbable. So, he just turned to the three boys.

"So, you want fun, right?"drill sergeant asked."I can give you fun. 100 LAPS AROUND ALL ACADEMY! NOW!"

The three simply ran away.

Next, drill sergeant turned to the girls. He shook his head. All of them were known to him.

"Well, well, well."he said, slowly walking from one to another and stopped next to Ester."Ester Barkhorn, positive idealist."Next to Dora."Dora Heidel, simple madwoman."Next to Lena."Lena Segeyevna, mechanic."Next to girl, which joined with Suvi."Fatima Salter, fan of romances."Next to Suvi."Suvi Felinaine, simple Martian pervert."Next to Liz."Elizabeth Creekford, master of history."Next to Arlette."Arlette Blancharde, musician."Next to Jackie."Jacqueline Taylor, Minenian refugee."Next to Yuko."Yuko Hagamoki, Japanese computer maniac."

Finally, he stopped next to Anastasia. She simply lowered her head.

"And Anastasia Tocchelli. Former Holy Order child soldier, now wants to fight for freedom."he said.

Anastasia turned her eyes on others, which widened theirs on this reveal.

"I must say. You chosen good company for each other. Now, you'll be having time, to make this friendship stronger."He leaned more and shouted:"BECAUSE YOU'RE GONNA CLEAN TOILETS BY NEXT MONTH! NOW, GO AWAY TOO!"

Girls simply threw up her arms. Next, they simply left the Mess Hall.

Drill sergeant wanted to walk away too, but in doors, he turned to the rest of people inside.

"What are you looking at?"he asked."EAT!"

Without hesitation, everyone returned to eating.

Now…

"…so we were cleaning toilets by this month. And by this time, we really became friends."Ester ended.

Trude nodded.

"Well then. Three things."Trude said and then, exclaimed:"Anastasia was in Holy Order?!"

Ester nodded, like it was nothing strange.

"Yeah. Holy Order is so ruthless, that recruits child soldiers. Anastasia was dragged, because it can't be said 'joined from her will' into Holy Army when she was just thirteen and served one year. Child soldiers are often used by Holy Order as police force and they don't actually care about them."Ester explained.

Witch shook her head. How could someone recruit child soldiers? In Witches case, it was something different. But in case of simple children? That was just awful.

"Okay then. And who was this Fatima Salter?"Trude asked second question.

"Former member of our squadron. Girl from Israel, half Lebanese. Her grandmother fought in UNSA-SDF War."Ester explained."She left around two months, before you arrived."

Witch tilted her head.

"Why did she left?"she asked.

"Simple. Her fiance put this, as a condition of their relationship. She had to leave military. They planned weeding on August 27."Ester then smiled."And she promised, that she will invite all of us. Including the one, that we find to replace her."

After hearing this, Trude frowned. She was on a weeding only one time, when her far cousin was weeding. She never like such parties and was sure, that she would never like them, no matter what.

"Anyway. And Suvi is from Mars?"she asked the last thing.

Ester nodded.

"After SetDef was kicked off from Solar System, and all Human Space, as everyone call parts of galaxy under Human control, Mars stayed it's own national entity. Only it's government changed, becoming more democratic. They have own Army, Navy and Air Force. And Suvi's father was appointed Earth's ambassador on Mars in 2134."

"Now, it all make's sense. And because Anastasia was on second year then, she's probably the oldest, right?"Witch asked.

The two exited the hangar and walked down the corridor, passing by some Nashini Marines.

"Oh, right."Ester reminded."Today, we're getting new squadron member."

"Again?"Trude asked.

"You see. She had to be moved to our squadron. But then, you appeared and…you know the rest."Ester explained."And to make it more interesting, she's from Tertan Federation."

"So another nation conquered by Holy Order?"

"No. Tertans are our only allies, which didn't were conquered yet."

Trude looked at her.

"Good for them."she stated.

"Maybe. But at now, half of their territory including their capital, Terta Prime, is occupied by Holy Order."Ester looked at her."And you have to know, that first Tertan-Human Contact, as we now call this event, was not so peaceful."

"_Here we goes_."Trude thought."What happened?"

Ester took a deep breath and started:

"In 2019, American satellite sent on Titan to do research, disappeared. As it turned out later, it was destroyed. But not by meteor or system failure. No. It was destroyed by Tertan Light Attack Destroyer. Two months later, NASA discovered mysterious objects at the orbit of Mars. Soon after, it turned out to be Tertan invasion fleet."

Witch didn't hid her surprise.

"So, not only our world is endangered by alien invasions."Trude said.

"Exactly."Ester replied."Continuing. Week after NASA presented this to United Nations Security Council, world superpowers, it means USA, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom, started to prepare for defense of planet. And then, Tertan fleet arrived."

"What happened next?"

"I was about to say. Tertans stayed on low Earth's orbit. This, was their first mistake. Thanks to this, superpowers were able to use their nuclear arsenals to destroy big part of the invasion force."She then stopped for a minute."But it wasn't been enough. Tertans, in response, bombarded New Delhi from the orbit, killing everyone in the city. Next, they sent landing force, which landed on Siberia and started the conquest of Earth."

"How big was Tertan force?"Witch continued to ask.

"Big."Ester simply replied."Over 500 ships, ten million troops and more. In just a year, Europe, Asia, South America and Australia were lost."

Trude then thought about what Ester said. In comparison with Neuroi, which occupy only Europe, North Africa, parts of continental Asia and few islands in the Pacific, this was overwhelming.

"Wow. With this, our war with Neuroi seems like small scale skirmish."Witch stated.

"Maybe. I don't know. I never saw your Neuroi."Ester stated."Coming back. In New York, which was and still is today the seat of United Nations, Security Council was even talking about surrendering. However, leaders of other world nations didn't wanted to simply give up. This is why UN started to deliver supplies to resistance movements around the globe. And you know what? It was probably the best idea ever made by UN. Resistance started to harass Tertans, eliminating their officers, destroying their supplies, vehicles or even, as some braver groups, managed to steal their ships and use their overloaded fusion reactors as Trojan Horse, changing the ship into bomb, easy capable of destroying Tertan ships. Many brave people died, doing these suicidal attacks."

"But, as I see, Humanity is prospering. At least in some part."Trude stated."How did you won?"

"I was about to say this. In 2024, after four years of sitting in fortified positions in North America and Africa, Security Council decided to start counteroffensive. First step of the offensive, was to destroy Tertan Command Ships, which were set up over every occupied continent."

"Why these ships were so important?"

"Because, as our research on captured Tertan equipment stated, every vehicle and some weapons of Tertan army had special transponder, which was responsible for their working. If you cut off the transponder signal, or destroy the Command Ship, vehicle or weapon become useless."Ester explained." Especially for this operation, Special Fast Strike Long Range Attack Group, or SFSLRAG in short, was created, immediately proving, that it was great idea."

"And why is it?"

"In just a week, South American and Australian Command Ships were destroyed. When this happened, Tertan tanks, APCs and majority of their heavy weaponry was put out of war. This let our forces to advance into continents, meeting actually no resistance from Tertan side. When Tertans discovered, that we discovered how to destroy them, they tried to fortify the Command Ships with the biggest force possible. But, against highly trained pilots, these fortifications were useless too. When all Command Ships were down, UN landed forces in Asia and Europe, pushing Tertans back. Although Tertans managed to fight for one more year, in that way, on April 15th, 2025, Tertan forces on Earth capitulated."Ester ended.

Witch nodded, after hearing the whole story of the war. Even when on edge of collapse, Humanity managed to ultimately defeat Tertan invasion force. Like with Neuroi, which also were on edge of collapse.

"But well. The victory came with costs."Ester said."Over two billion people were killed, with over half a billion more wounded or crippled for whole life. But, we managed to capture 2 million Tertan troops, while other 8 million were killed in battle. Tertan fleet on Earth's orbit, after seeing the defeat on the surface, simply left the Solar System."

"And what happened to the Tertans captured in the war?"Trude asked.

"Simple. We had to learn them, how to speak our language, to ask them about everything. Some were working peacefully, while others didn't. Thanks to this, we were able to know their specie name, because we earlier called them Unknowns and that they're known as Tertan Empire. And their technology, we managed to gather, was used in the development of our. Thanks to drive we gathered from their destroyed ships, just four years after the war ended, we colonized the Moon. Although some things stayed the same, Tertan technology brought us to stars and helped in developing many new things, that helped Humanity in it's spread across the Milky Way."

"So, from what I see, the invasion have it's negatives and positives."Witch stated.

Ester nodded her head, agreeing with her.

"Yup. And you have to know, that this was first Human-Tertan War."she said.

This surprised Trude.

"First?"she asked.

"Yeah."Ester said."There was also second war, which started in 2111, after one of our cruisers encountered Tertan Empire destroyer. And this war led to fall of Tertan Empire, as one of it's generals, Hemilin Jaxorof, started a full scale rebellion against the Emperor, overthrowing him and proclaiming the Tertan Federation. War ended in 2113, with Treaty of Ganymede."

"And the third war?"Trude asked.

Ester simply waved her hand and explained:

"It was nothing big. Small war, lasting three weeks in 2122, on planet know for Tertans by the name of Galox III, while we called it Hellstone VII, currently in Minenian space. Planet was divided in two parts and governors of both halves wanted the planet to be united under one rule. So they started the war. Fortunately, before it escalated into something bigger, governors were replaced and war was over. Anyway, if not Tertans, we probably would still sit in single star system."

By the time Ester was talking, the two reached the room shared by her and Dora.

"Alright, we call you to the hangar, when our new member will arrive. Until then see ya."Ester said, as they both shook their hands.

After that, Trude walked back to her room.

17:01

Trude's and Jackie's room

When Witch entered the room, she saw Jackie laying on her air mattress, with e-book in her hands.

"And how was the training?"Jackie asked, putting the e-book down.

"Good. After that, Ester told me, how she met you."Trude replied.

Jackie nodded as she stood up.

"Yeah, interesting story. I still remember that day."Jackie said.

"She also told me about our new squadron member and Human-Tertan Wars."Witch added.

"Little of history is also good."Minenian stated.

Trude then looked at e-book laying on Jackie's mattress.

"What are you reading?"she asked, as she started to take off her vest and gloves.

"Nothing important. Some fantasy book."Jackie explained.

Witch then came up to wardrobe, at the same time looking at the e-book, seeing title of the book: _The Prince of Sacred Sword_.

"Anyway, you know, what name is our new members?"she turned back to Jackie.

Jackie rubbed her chin and nodded.

"Yeah. Aquexymeva Nequxorop, if I'm right."Jackie replied, and seeing Trude's look, she explained:"Tertan names are often strange and hard to pronounce."

Witch nodded and landed on her bed.

"You know what? I'm wondering, what others in my world are doing."she said.

At the same time…

May 22, 1944

17:05

501st JFW base in Folkestone, Minna's office

Minna was sitting in her office, filling some documents. It's some time, since Trude disappeared or, like command said, was K.I.A. She tried to turn her attention from this, but just wasn't been able to. That scene, when blue beam hit her wingman, still was in her head.

At least, she wasn't been the only broken person in the base. Since that day, Erica was always sitting in her room, probably sleeping, but it wasn't been confirmed. Some people already tried to pull her out of there, but without bigger success.

Minna's eyes then landed on photo, which was standing on her desk. It presented all three Karlsland Witches back in Gallia, before they had to evacuate the country.

"If only I could turn back time…"Minna said."It should be me."

She again looked at the documents in front of her. At least, she had something, to keep her thoughts occupied.

Back on _Ike_

"I'm sure they miss you."Jackie stated.

"Maybe some of them do, others maybe less. Anyway. Until I come back, I have to help you in fighting."Trude stated.

In that moment, there was knocking to the door.

"Come in."Trude said.

Door opened and girl entered the room. She had short brown hair and green eyes, dressed in Resistance officer uniform. On her left arm, she had attached Ukrainian flag.

"Oh, Trude. Please, meet second class colonel Oksana Natchenko. She represents our squadron in every office and paper work."Jackie explained.

"Pleasure to meet you."Oksana said.

She approached Trude and shook hands with her.

"It's also pleasure to me, colonel."Trude replied.

"Please, call me Ox. I'm not that kind of colonel."Oksana explained."I just sit in office and do every paper work instead of Ester."

Trude frowned.

"Easy, it's nod as hard as you think."Oksana said."Besides, I have something for you. Pull your hand terminal."

Witch took her terminal. Oksana did the same and turned it on. She pressed some things and Trude's terminal made incoming message noise. She turned it on too and on the screen, she saw her ID.

"It took some time, but here you have your ID. You can use this to unlock ship doors and make yourself a bank account."Oksana explained, blinking.

One more time, Trude looked at her ID. On it, she saw photo she made some time ago and all her personal information, like birth date, hair and eye color or height.

"Sorry it took so long. I had some problems with telling the Higher Ups, that it's your real birth date."Oksana explained.

"No problem. Now, I don't need anyone to walk with me."Trude replied.

Earlier, she had to always have someone with her or ask someone, to open doors and walk in some rooms.  
"Well. See ya later. I still have some paperwork regarding your new teammate."Oksana said and walked out of the room.

Again, the two left alone.

"Hey, want to watch some movie?"Jackie asked, taking her terminal.

"Why not."Trude threw up her arms."What we will watch?"

Because of time she was there, movies were nothing new to her. She already watched some movies with Jackie, mainly Minenian production.

"Let's see…"Jackie sat on her mattress in Turkish style and started to look through her movie library."We already watched _The Color of Revenge_, _Battle of Alder Station_, _One Day at Midnight…_"Jackie was really into crime, war and action movies and they already watched these."What do you say about _That Woman from Hellidor_?"

Hellidor was capital of Minenia Prime and all of Minenia.

Trude nodded.

"Okay. Let it be."

Jackie chosen the movie and pressed some places on her terminal. Next, TV turned on and movie started.

"It's a romantic comedy. I don't even know, how it landed in my library."Jackie said, reading the movie's description."Anyway, let's watch it."

Both she and Trude sat down on the bed and started watching.

Two hours later…

Movie ended and the two was sitting there, don't knowing what to say.

"Wow. I didn't knew, that this movie might be AS bad."Trude stated.

"I know, right? Again, I don't know, how it landed in my library, but it's not there anymore."Jackie stated, as she reached her terminal.

However, when she pressed the library menu, she noticed one thing.

"Hey, delete button is gone."she said.

"How is it 'gone'?"Trude asked, looking at her terminal.

"I don't know how, but…"

In that moment, Jackie got call. When she accepted it, Ester's face appeared on the terminal.

"What is it, Ester?"Jackie asked.

"Guess."Ester replied and, after not getting answer, said:"Tertans are here. Their admiral met with admiral Chesterfield on _Andromeda_. And our member have to meet us in our hangar."

"Sure thing, Estie. We'll be there."Jackie provided and ended the call."Let's go. You have to meet Tertans."

Witch took her uniform from wardrobe and started to dress it up. When she was ready, they went to meet their new Tertan teammate.

19:23

White Squadron hangar

Whole squadron met in the hangar, where they waited on new squadron member. Everyone was doing it's own stuff. Arlette listened to music, Lena was still doing something with her fighter engine, Yuko was doing something on her terminal, Liz continued to read the book, Jackie was doing the same, Emiko was sitting next to Liz and drinking tea, Anastasia was playing game on her phone, Dora and Ester simply talked about different things, Suvi watched 'something' on her hand terminal.

And Trude, using her Super Strength, was lifting around seventy kilograms of 50mm ammo in several boxes.

"How is it possible, that you can so easily lift it?"Yuko asked.

"With Super Strength…it's easier…than you think."Trude replied."But still…hard."

Meanwhile, Jackie looked at Yuko's hand terminal. In free time, Yuko was using it only to two things: hacking and playing games. Sometimes even both.

"What are you doing there?"Jackie asked, standing next to Yuko.

Japanese immediately hid her terminal from Jackie's eyes.

"Some computer…stuff."Yuko replied, grinning her perfectly white teeth.

Jackie narrowed her eyes.

"Show me, I'm just interested."she insisted.

Yuko simply shook her head. Not able to withstand it, Jackie grabbed the terminal and looked at it.

"No, you won't understand…!"Yuko tried to stop her, but without result.

"Oh, I understand everything."Jackie replied.

The thing she was looking at, was the programming window of nothing other, than Jackie's movie library. Minenian saw two new movies, which landed there. Two probably worst thrillers in history.

"So it was you?!"Jackie turned to Yuko.

"Wait, I can explain!"Yuko immediately exclaimed.

But Jackie didn't listened. She put terminal down and put hands on Yuko's neck. Next, she started to suffocate her.

Japanese tried to out of the grip, but couldn't.

"_Damn Minenian strength!_"Yuko thought.

"Hey, hey, Jackie, calm down!"Arlette said, trying to calm her down.

"If you try to tinker something with my movie library, or any other program on my terminal, once more, I will throw you out of the ship through airlock. Understood?!"Jackie shouted into Yuko's face.

"Unchersoot…"Yuko wheezed, catching air with trouble.

Jackie let Yuko go. Japanese fell on the ground and grabbed her neck, trying to catch air and coughing. Yuko again looked at Jackie and immediately turned eyes from her, seeing Minenian face expression.

Meanwhile, others just watched it in surprise, with Emiko hiding behind Liz once more.

"Because they work in mines and quarries, Minenians are often stronger than people from Earth or Laconia. Not only because of work, but it also came into their genes."Ester explained to Trude.

Witch simply nodded.

Yuko grabbed her hand terminal and walked away, to continue work in other part of the hangar.

Meanwhile, Ester looked at hangar entrance. There, she saw their new teammate.

"There she is, guys."she announced.

Everyone looked in the same direction of Ester and smiled.

All, except of Trude. Expression on her face was nothing more, than real fury, mixed with the lust for murder.

In front of them was standing Tertan woman. She was around the same height as Jackie. But most important, was the thing she was wearing. She was dressed in fully black armor, with several red lines. On her head, she had helmet with four red, pointed lines, connecting in the middle of it, creating the 'X' shape. Other red places were her elbows and knees, which were bowing doubly, like in Nashini case. In places like arms or chest, she had only minor red features.

However, for Witch, she was only black armor with red elements, which looked only like one thing she knew.

"Neuroi!"Trude exclaimed.

Before anyone could say anything, Trude grabbed gun from her holster and aimed at Tertan, which in shock, was unable to move. Dora reacted immediately, grabbing Trude's arm and pointing it in different direction, right when she fired.

"ARE FUCKING INSANE?!"Dora shouted into her ear."YOU WANT TO KILL YOUR ALLY?!"

Trude looked at them, then on gun in her hand. She lowered her weapon and hit it to holster.

"I…"she tried to say, but couldn't.

"Thanks for such a warm welcome."Aquexymeva stated in fluent English.

"Forgive us."Ester said. Next, she turned to Trude."And you, explain, what it was."

Witch looked at everyone in her new squadron. Especially at that Tertan, Aquexymeva. She didn't felt good in her company.

"Okay, it was because…Neuroi. These aliens we fight in my world."Trude explained.

"What do you mean by this?"Liz asked.

"These colors. Fully black with red features. When I saw her, I immediately thought about Neuroi."

White Squadron members nodded, understanding, what she was was talking about. Only Aquexymeva was a bit confused.

"Eh…What are you talking about?"she asked.

Ester nodded to Trude, which activated her familiar.

"Whoa!"Tertan exclaimed, seeing this."It's some type of your genetic experiments?"

"No. But calm down, I can explain everything later."Ester provided.

Aquexymeva, unsteadily, nodded her head.

"Anyway. What about your spacecraft?"Lena asked.

In response, the hangar door started to open. When it opened completely, the red-black shape flew inside of hangar and touched down on the ground.

"There it is."Aquexymeva replied on Lena's question.

But Lena was not listening anymore. Faster than a blink, she rushed towards the Tertan fighter and literally hugged it.

"So beautiful, so beautiful, so beautiful…"she said."I always dreamed about check what XR-45s Xarars have under their masks."

Tertan woman watched this with confusion.

"Yeah. Lena loves to tinker in engines of every kind of vehicle."Arlette explained."Hope you don't mind, Aque…Aq…"Although she tried, French girl was unable to say Tertan name.

Aquexymeva sighed.

"Please, call me Aqi. It should be easier."she said."And no, I don't mind. I saw many of your specie like her, which erupted like that when they saw my fighter."

XR-45's cockpit then started to open. When this happened, another Tertan exited and approached Aquexymeva.

"On your order, sergeant."he said in Tertan, saluting.

"Thanks, Kizir. See you later."she replied, also in Tertan.

Kizir then left the hangar.

"Who was that?"Yuko asked, recovering from what Jackie did to her.

"Kizir, member of my former squadron. At least, he's loyal."Aquexymeva explained.

"Anyway, people. I will now show our new Tertan friend some of ship. You're free to do everything."Ester explained.

Smile appeared on Yuko's face, but then, she met Jackie's gaze and smile disappeared. In addition to this, Lena was still hugging Xarar.

"Can I see how does it look inside?"she asked Aquexymeva.

"Sure. But don't brake anything."Tertan pointed out.

"Easy, I was reading many things about your technology."Russian provided.

With her assurance, hangar was soon empty.

20:12

Deck 8, Observation Room

Trude was sitting on the chair and looking at the screens in _Ike's_ Observation Room. Thanks to cameras outside, screens were showing everything around the ship.

However, her eyes were focused on only one screen. It was showing the Tertan fleet, which was several hundred kilometers away from Task Force 03. Fleet was in the same colors as Neuroi: completely black armor, with several red features.

"What are you watching?"familiar voice asked.

When Witch turned around, she saw Anastasia. Italian, or more precisely former Holy Order as Ester said, came up to her and sat down on another chair.

"Hey."Trude replied."Nothing. Only our allied fleet."

Anastasia looked at the same screen as Trude.  
"This what you did back in hangar would not make it easier. Tertans are really vindictive. They would like to see you flying in space, without oxygen, if you would shoot Aqi."she said.

"I know, but…For past five years everything with black armor and red features was always turning my mind to Neuroi. And by all this time, I managed to print one thing in my mind: everything colored like that is enemy."

"In our world, it's ally."Next, Anastasia thought about it."Well, it was also our enemy back in…"

"2019, I know. Ester told about Human-Tertan Wars."Trude said.

They both again looked at the screen.

"I have a question."Trude broke the silence.

"What is it?"Anastasia said.

"How did you landed in Holy Order army?"

Smile disappeared from Anastasia's face.

"Ester told you, right?"she asked.

Witch nodded.

"Well then."Anastasia started."Actually, I wasn't been born on Earth. My parents decided to move to Occiando II. Planet was known from it's low rate of children born with disabilities and was known as real paradise to born children. But I made surprise and I was born on ship, which was going to that planet."

"Your parents probably were really surprised."Trude stated.

"Yes, they were. Anyway. Ship was close to the planet, so my parents decided, that they will settle there. And so it was. I spent much of my life there. Then, Holy Order came, occupied it and dragged me into the army."

"So, what made you decide to left?"Trude continued to ask.

Anastasia made longer pause.

"I had a friend. Lucas Oaker. We grown up together. Before Holy Order reached the planet, he and his parents left. I met him year later…and lost him."she said.

"What do you mean?"

"You see…planet, on which we met, held UNSA Ground Academy. He was studying there. When we invaded, academy mobilized all students there. During assault on the base, we met on opposing sides of barricade. We eventually faced each other and…"

"And what?"

"And I came out alive from this encounter. He died in my arms."

After she said that, Witch saw a tear coming out of Anastasia's eye.

"This made me think about what Holy Order did with me."she continued."They changed me into simple killing machine. And I didn't wanted this. That's why I escaped and lived on freighters, until I eventually reached Solar System. Then, I enlisted into academy and here we are today."

"Thanks for explaining."Trude said, when Anastasia ended.

"No problem. Although it's painful for me, I like to tell this story to people."She then stood up."Well. I think, that I should go now. See ya."

Next, she simply walked away, leaving Trude alone. Witch continued to look at the screens by twenty more minutes, before she eventually left.

XXX

**I know, that this chapter was with less action, but I wanted to use it to do some backstory and introduce Tertans. And I'm wondering, if someone, except of me, expected Neuroi-like specie in this story. Next chapter will focus more on exploring other White Squadron members past.**

**Anyway. Explainings:**

**Terta Prime—**capital and home planet of Tertans. In year 1856 (A/N: 1856 of Tertan calendar. 953 of Human calendar) whole planet was united during Tertan Unification War, fought at the beginning between Republic of Kiloru and other states, later by Tertan Empire and Tertan Coalition of Free Nations, ended with Tertan Empire victory. Currently occupied by Holy Order.

**XR-45 Xarar—**Tertan space superiority fighter, designed as replacement of XR-37 Horex. It was named after Xarar, the Tertan version of Earth wolf, which across Tertan Federation is known as the most deadly animal.

**When things are explained, I can say see y'all!**


	5. Ch5: Meeting the Team

** This chapter is aimed to do some more backstory of other White Squadron members. So again, there will be no action, but in upcoming chapters it's gonna change. Until now, it's everything I can give to you.**

XXX

May 27, 2150

15:21

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, Sparing Arena

The room was filled with sounds of blocked and accurate hits. Trude was fighting five sparing androids, under the overseeing of sparing trainer. He was impressed, seeing how easy Witch can handle five fast, agile machines.

She blocked another hit from the left, at the same time using her Super Strength and hitting the android in it's torso, eliminating it from fight, as her fist broke through it. Second tried to hit her from behind, but she quickly turned and grabbed his arm. Before android orientated, he already was flying towards the wall, where he crashed into little parts.

Witch turned to remaining three androids. One of them rushed on her and tried to hit her, but she grabbed his fist, before it would reach her. She then started to spin around with it, until she let it go and two remaining androids were rammed by the third one. Soon, the floor was filled with sparkling parts of destroyed robots.

"If you continue to destroy androids like that, we might run out of them in no time."trainer stated.

"A…gr…ee."one of androids said, before it finally turned off.

"I just think, that they're not so demanding enemies. And I also thought, that you can make millions of them."she replied.

"True. But they're expensive, you know?"

Right then, the door opened and Ester entered. She saw the demolished androids laying around and nodded.

"You again used your Super Strength?"Ester asked.

"Yes. But I promise, I'll try without it next time."Trude promised.

"I doubt it."trainer said, calling cleaning team with it's terminal.

Trude approached Ester. The two walked out of the room.

"Anyway, is there something you need?"Trude asked.

"Not me, but you."Ester replied.

Witch looked at her, not covering surprise.

"I have everything I need to survive here, until I get back home."she stated.

"I know but…maybe you should meet the others more."

Hearing this, Trude frowned.

"But I already met them. I know them for some time now."she said.

"True. But you know. It's always good, to talk with the team, know what they're interested in, talk about their dreams…You see, this is how me, Dora and Jackie got along with them. You should try it too."Ester explained.

After she put this like that, Witch started to actually think about it. This might actually be good. She already learned something about Ester, Dora, Jackie and Anastasia, but with others…they were a bit of mystery to her.

"Okay, why not. Maybe it would be good."she said.

Ester smiled.

"Fine. They all should today be in their rooms. Talk to them and make some more close friends, than just me, Dora and Jackie."she said.

She then walked away. Trude turned in another corridor, passing by the group of cleaning androids.

Don't knowing herself why, she felt like androids sent unpleasant look to her.

15:48

Deck 4

Following Ester's advise, Trude decided to meet others closer from Lena. She knew, that the Russian has room on Deck 4, so after she left the training area, she took elevator and made her way there.

After some minutes of looking, she finally reached Lena's room, marked with number 64. She came up to the door and used her hand terminal to open them and enter inside, thanks to code, which Lena gave to her, the same as everyone did. Witch stepped in and looked around.

"Hello?"she asked.

Trude turned the lights on, to see everything around.

On the walls, she saw the Resistance recruitment posters, with the pictures of Eurofighters on them. She noticed, that some of the posters weren't Resistance at all. On one of them, she saw inscription: "To bring peace and prosperity, we fight for. The United Nations Space Alliance Navy". When she looked closer, she saw the print date of poster, which was April 4th, 2097.

"Poster from previous century."Trude whispered.

She turned from the posters and looked on other things. On shelfs, there were models of various ships, like _Gen. Juan Salazar_-class Heavy Cruiser, _Andromeda_-class Carrier or Tertan _Uhar_-class Super Heavy Frigate. Models of fighters were there too. The desk, on which the laptop was, was also filled with parts and tools. Holo-frames were next to models, showing Lena with her family and friends, just like Jackie had.

But, of course, Lena was nowhere to be found.

"What are you doing here?"

When Trude turned around, she saw an android standing in the entrance. It was taller than her for about a head and was painted in orange-black colors. In the middle of his head, he had one, glowing blue eye.

For few seconds, Trude couldn't move any muscle. She still couldn't get used to robots wandering around the ship and also able to use weapons. Witch was feeling more confident in company of standard service androids, like the ones who were sent to clean the sparing arena.

Realizing she didn't said anything for over a minute, she finally said:

"I was looking for Lena. Have you saw her anywhere?"

Android's eye expanded and narrowed.

"Pilot officer Sergeyevna was ordered to make repairs outside the ship. You should look for her in the Bridge area."android replied.

Witch nodded.

"Okay, thanks…"she stopped, as she didn't knew the androids name.

"Owen."android introduced himself.

"Owen. Thanks."Trude said.

Before she went to find Lena, Trude turned off the light and closed the door of the room. Next, she went to get her helmet and to find the nearest airlock.

16:19

Outside of _Ike's _Bridge

Once outside, Trude started to look for Lena. From back, she was feeling the warm and light of star they were close to. She didn't had to look for her long, cause Lena was, as Owen said, in Bridge area. Witch found her working on one of antennas.

When she came closer, Lena looked at her.

"Oh, hey."Lena said in communicator."What brings you here, in space abyss?"

"You see."Trude started."Ester told me, to meet you closer. Talk a little, learn something about you…"

Lena smiled under her helmet.

"Well then. Ask, whatever you want."she said.

Witch once again looked at antenna.

"Why are you repairing this?"she asked.

"Captain Eriksson's TV is lately flawing. He asked me, if I can take care of this."Lena explained.

"You just agreed to repair his TV antenna?"

"Sure."Lena smiled again."Repairing things is my hobby. I willingly enjoy repairing everything, they ask me to."

Trude nodded.

"Why is that?"she asked.

"You see."Lena put the wrench to the toolbox, which was simply floating next to her."It's because of my parents. They have the car repair shop in Novosibirsk suburbs. Dad and mom showed me, how to repair various things."She bit her lips."The only minus of this is, that mom was a really bad cook, as she spent more time on tinkering and we always had some food ordered from restaurant."

Trude frowned.

"Well then. Unexpected."she said."Anyway. Why have you joined the Resistance?"

Lena then turned her gaze on Trude. Witch couldn't see her face, because of helmet, but knew, that Lena looks in her eyes.

"You know. Some people joined, because they wanted fame."she started."Others, because they seen Holy order as greatest danger in galactic history. And I? Because I wanted to find my brother."

"Your brother?"Witch asked.

The Russian nodded.

"Yup. My older brother, Sergey, joined the Resistance, when I was just five years old. Since then, he disappeared. I joined to find him and bring him home."Lena explained."I, honestly, always wanted to do, what my parents were doing. But well. You see, that life can be really surprising, isn't it?"

"True. I know what you mean."Witch agreed."And you really still look for him after all those years?"

"Sure. I promised myself, that I find him alive, his corpse or die trying."Lena floated closer to Trude."I always keep my promise."

Trude nodded.

"What do you do in your free time?"she asked.

"Oh, changing subject?"Lena replied with question."Okay then. There are many thing I like to do. Repair stuff, tinker with other things or look at star of system we're in."

"Isn't it dangerous?"Trude asked. Ester told her, how dangerous is looking at stars from close distance.

"If you use the darkened visors, it's not so dangerous."Lena said.

"Wait. Visors have such function?"

"Sure. Let me show ya."

Girl floated even closer to Trude. She grabbed her helmet and pressed a button on it's side. Witch saw her visor getting dark.

"Now, look at the star."Lena said, doing the same with her visor.

Trude turned around, using her jump pack. And her jaw dropped.

The star she was now looking at was incredible. All the sun storms were shaping in different shapes and the stains on it's surface were making great composition with them. To it, the star was in shade of blue.

"Beautiful view, aren't it?"Lena asked.

"True. And this darkened visors are actually helping."Trude agreed.

"See? Told ya."

They continued to look at the star for few more minutes. When Trude looked at her hand terminal, she saw, that already half an hour. And their oxygen was currently at just 49%.

"Are you done with this antenna?"the Witch asked.

"Almost…"Lena replied, mounting last screw"…done".

On the top of antenna, a red light turned on and Lena smiled on it.

"I always do my work, as you can see. Is there something more you want to ask?"Lena asked.

Witch shook her head.

"No. I maybe go and look for others."she replied.

"Okay. Let's get back to the airlock then. I don't want oxygen to end before we reach it."Lena stated.

The two then turned towards the nearest airlock, through which then entered the ship.

16:53

Deck 8

Next person Trude decided to talk to, was Arlette. Witch was on her way there, looking at her terminal, on which she had the room's number, the 562.

"_Okay, where is it_?"she asked in mind.

She then stood in front of the door. She turned the terminal off and knocked. However, as she waited, she didn't got the answer. So she threw her arms up.

Witch did the same as with Lena's door and entered.

Inside, she was hit by a wave of loud techno music. She quickly covered her ears, for her eardrums to not exploded.

"Sorry!"Arlette said, as she silenced the music."I forgot, that not everyone likes such a loud music."

"No. But how is that possible, that I haven't heard it outside?"Trude asked.

"Because rooms are soundproofed. That's why you haven't heard it."Arlette explained.

Trude nodded and looked around.

She saw posters with various music bands, not only Human ones, but also she saw two posters of Tertan music bands and one Nashini. On shelfs were various e-notebooks, with various autographs on them. Next to them were music records and photos.

"_She really likes music_"she stated.

"What brings you to my little kingdom?"Arlette asked.

Witch again looked at her.

"Well. I wanted to know you little more."she replied.

Arlette nodded, with smile on her face.

"Okay then. Let me start from the beginning."Arlette cleared her throat and started:"I was born on September 21, 2132 in Bordeaux. My father was Emmanuel Blancharde, known politician, and my mother was Sandy Iver, American actress. I have older brother and older sister, both are doing the same as my parents."

"Wow. I see, that you like to start from the VERY beginning."Trude said.

"I know. Anyway. As you probably noticed, I really love music."

Witch nodded.

"Yeah, I did. By the way, what are these autographs?"she asked.

"You see, I was walking on many concerts in my life. These are autographs of all my favorite musicians and bands."Arlette explained.

"And why have you joined the Resistance?"

Arlette threw up her arms.

"There are few reasons. Thanks to this, I wanted to meet new types of music around the galaxy. But also make my father proud, so he could say 'My little girl was among people, which saved the Earth'."she explained.

Trude smirked. Arlette seemed to be very proud person, but also modest. These were two things she respected.

"And what you wanted to do, if you didn't joined military?"she asked.

Arlette simply waved her hand.

"I wanted to be a singer. And represent France on Eurovision." she replied.

Witch tilted her head.

"What is Eurovision?"she asked.

"You don't know?"Arlette didn't covered her surprise.

"Girl, in my world it's 1944."

"Oh, right! Sorry. Okay then."

She came off her bed and approached her night table, on which was her terminal. She took it and pressed some buttons. Next, she showed it to Trude. There, the Witch saw an logo and motto: _Eurovision Song Contest 2150, Always forward!_.

"Eurovision is a song contest, which started in 1956. On this contest, singers or bands represent countries from all over Europe, but also Australia can take part in it. There are also other types of Eurovision: Choir Eurovision, Dance Eurovision, Junior Eurovision or Eurovision Asia."Arlette explained."It always happens from May 12th to May 16th."

Trude nodded.

"You really are into music, aren't you?"she asked.

"Of course I'm!"Arlette exclaimed."Music is not only some sounds you can listen to! It can serve also as a way to tell story. To change history or even save lives. That's why I want to be singer myself. I also make music."

Next, she came to her desk and took a pair of headphones from there. She gave it to Trude. Witch took them.

"Why do I need this?"

"Because I want to show you some of my work."

Witch put the headphones on and Arlette again pressed something on her terminal. Soon, the music started. The sounds were mainly in style of techno music, but the voice could also be heard.

As Trude listened closer, she recognized the voice's owner.

"Anastasia?"she asked.

Arlette nodded.

"I sometimes work with her during music production. She's very good singer too."Arlette explained.

Rest of time in Arlette's company, was listening to various songs made by Arlette. Some were more techno, others more instrumental, while other were simple songs, sung by one or more voices.

"I have to admin."Trude said."You have talent for that."

"Thanks. I always landed on school's talent contests podiums."Arlette replied.

Witch took off her headphones and looked at Arlette.

"Okay, thanks for your time. I have other people to talk to."she said.

"No problemo, mate."Arlette replied and laughed."Sorry, I went too Australian."

Trude exited the room and started to think, who to visit next.

"_I think, that Yuko will be good now_."she thought.

And without thinking more, she went to Yuko's room.

17:27

Trude started to look for Yuko's room, until she ultimately found a room marked with number 600.

"Okay, let's do it."she said, opening the door with Yuko's code.

She opened the door and entered inside. There, she saw only light coming from monitors standing on the desk. In front of them she saw an outline of Yuko's head and heard sounds of pressing the buttons on holographic keyboard.

She pressed the light button and room was now fully lightened. Yuko was wrenched out of her work.

"Oh, welcome, my dear! What are ya doing hya?"the Japanese asked.

"Nothing big. Just meeting the team closer."Trude replied.

Witch noticed, that in Yuko's case, walls were clear from posters. In addition, on her shelfs, beside photos and books, she saw several figures presenting characters from various games. And she now noticed, that Yuko was wearing a T-Shirt with Spyro the Dragon on it.

"What are your interests?"Trude asked, don't knowing the persons figures presented and dragon on Yuko's T-Shirt.

Yuko rubbed her chin as she thought about it.

"You know, I'm mainly into computer stuff, as you probably noticed."she replied.

Trude then remembered, how Yuko tinkered with Jackie's movie library.

"True, I noticed."she agreed."Is there something more you like to do?"

"Of course. Except of hacking and playing games, I have something, what my older brother shed on me"Yuko replied.

"What is it?"

"Forensics."

Seeing Trude's asking look, Yuko reached under her bed. From there, she took a suitcase and opened it. Inside, Trude saw several white gloves, brushes and containers with some substances.

"My brother, Huroshi, showed me, how to solve mysteries. He's private detective, so he knows a lot about this job."Yuko explained.

"You solved any mysteries yet?"Trude asked.

Yuko nodded.

"Yup. I managed to solve around ten of them. And I hope, that more will come later."she said.

"Okay."Trude then looked at the figures on shelfs."And if I can ask. Can you show me, how to play these games?"

"Sure! Come."Yuko said.

Yuko then came to the computers she was working at and pressed something behind two monitors. Then, two holo-screens around one meter high and two meter long each appeared in the air.

Japanese then took two controllers and gave one to Trude. Controllers were in form of small tablets with buttons on them.

"Okay, do everything I do."Yuko said.

Trude agreed and did it, until hey turned the game on. On Yuko's screen appeared an character of Resistance soldier, carrying heavy MG, with level and his stats. Meanwhile, on Trude's screen, five logos appeared: one of UNSA, one of Holy Order, one of Resistance, one of Tertans and one of Fourth Reich.

"What do I have to do?"Witch asked.

"Because you're the new player, you first need to create account. Choose one of five factions in game and create your character. Next, choose the beginning class."Yuko explained.

Trude nodded. She then used one of knobs on her controller's screen and moved it on faction she chosen. To Yuko's surprise, she chosen Holy Order.

"If you're playing as Resistance, then I will play as Holy Order."Trude explained.

When she chosen it, the window with inscription 'SOLDIER'S NAME' appeared. There, Trude written her name and surname.

"You could think different name than your real, but okay."Yuko said.

Next, the character creation panel appeared and Trude chosen female character. After several minutes of creating face, with Yuko's help of course, it was ready.

In another window were classes: Assault, Marksman, Medic, Heavy Gunner, Technician and Assassin. She chosen Heavy Gunner.

"To your information: at the beginning, your soldier can carry only weapons of it's class. So your Heavy Gunner can use only heavy MGs, grenade and rocket launchers or heavy riffles. After passing tenth XP level, you can use every weapon of every class."Yuko explained.

"Okay."Trude replied.

When whole soldier creation process was done, the same screen as in Yuko's case appeared. And with it, the window of game invitation.

"What is it?"Trude asked.

"I'm inviting you for a game. Accept it."Yuko replied.

With only threw up her arms and accepted it.

Some time later…

After three rounds of game, the result was 0:3 for Yuko. Trude simply put down the controller and hung her head.

"Easy."Yuko tried to calm her down."It's your first game. You learn it after some time."

"You seem good at it."Witch stated.

"I do it since I was child. Of course I'm good."

Trude stood up and went towards the door.

"It was nice talking to you. And maybe one day, I will beat you at this game."she said.

"Keep you by word."Yuko said.

Witch then closed the door and went down the corridor. Next persons she wanted to talk with, was Elizabeth.

17:58

Deck 9

On Deck 9, Trude started to look for Liz's room 902. She passed by the door, looking for the right one.

"_Bet that Emiko's sleeping in the same room as Liz_"she thought.

Finally, she stood in front of doors marked 902. She opened it with code and entered inside. Immediately, she knew it was Liz's room.

On the shelfs, Trude saw figures presenting soldiers from different times. She could see legionary from Roman times, WW2 American soldier or English knight from time of War of the Roses. On the photos, Liz was hugging Emiko like real big sister. Books standing on shelfs beside photos and figures were titled _History of Roman Empire_, _Human Space Expansion_ or _War History of Milky Way_.

There were two beds too. So Trude was sure, that Emiko was sleeping in this room too. But Liz and Emiko themselves were nowhere to be seen.

"What are you doing?"Liz asked, standing behind Trude.

Witch almost jumped, when the British appeared out of nowhere behind her. She turned around and saw Emiko with Liz.

"Don't scare me like that anymore."Trude said.

"Forgive us."Emiko replied."But what you're doing here?"

"Just talking with the team. Can we enter inside?"

"Sure."Liz said."Fell like in your own room."

The three entered and Liz closed the door. They sat down and looked at each other.

"So"Liz started"what do you wanted to talk with us about?"

"Well. About you as whole. Your interests, what you like to do or your plans for future."Trude replied.

"Oh, this. Okay."Liz said."As you probably noticed, I love everything related to history."

Once more, Trude looked around. She nodded.

"Why you love it so much?"she asked.

Liz replied with short laugh.

"Why? History is one of most interesting thing in the world! Not only because you can learn how things happen."

"What else can you learn?"Witch asked.

But British girl simply shook her head.

"Not learn."she replied."History can let you know, what happened in the past. But it also make's you put a question: What if…? If Germany won WW2? If Napoleon didn't retreated from Russia? If Roman Empire existed longer and Cesar wasn't been assassinated?"

"Well. This last question can be answered by looking at my world."Trude noticed.

Liz looked at her with surprise.

"Really? I must ask you someday."Liz stated.

"And I will answer."Witch agreed.

Next, she looked at Emiko.

"And what does she like?"Trude asked.

Emiko, hearing, that the conversation reached her, immediately hung her head and started to shake. Liz came closer to her and wrapped her arm around her.

"Well. Emiko maybe is not the best pilot we have, but there's one thing she's the best at."Liz stated, and after a short pause, she replied."Swimming"

Trude tilted her head left.

"Swimming?"she asked.

"Yup."Liz confirmed."Actually nobody could defeat her, when it comes to swimming. This is why she had so many swimming trophies at home."

"Liz…"Emiko murmured.

Her stepsister looked at her.

"Sorry. I forgot you don't like to brag".

Meanwhile, Trude stood up.

"Thank for talking. I now have to talk to few more people."She thought for a moment."Maybe now I'll try to talk with Suvi?"

Hearing this, Emiko and Liz looked at each other.

"You want to talk with Suvi?"Emiko asked.

"Yeah. Is it wrong?"Trude asked.

"You know how perverted she is?"Liz asked.

Trude nodded.

"Unfortunately. But it can't be so bad, right?"she said.

Emiko hung her head more, although it should be impossible. Liz hugged her more.

"Good luck with Suvi."she said.

Witch only said 'Goodbye' and left.

18:46

Deck 1

Trude was already on the Deck 1, where Suvi had her room. When she looked at room's number, she frowned. It was room 69.

"Why does it not surprise me?"she asked herself, as she stood in front of the room.

She activated her terminal and used the code to open the door. When she did it, she heard…sounds. She entered inside and turned the lights on…only to see Suvi with another woman in a middle of 'situation'.

"My eyes!"Witch exclaimed, as she covered her eyes.

Suvi and her 'partner' looked at her and came off of the bed. Next, they started to dress up. Suvi had a smile on her face.

"Never seen people in action?"she asked.

Trude uncovered her eyes. Suvi and another woman were already dressed and woman left the room.

"Can we repeat this someday?"woman asked.

"Whenever you want, sweetie."Suvi replied with smile and blink.

Once Trude and Suvi stayed alone, Finnish girl looked at the Witch.

"Wanna try too?"she asked.

When she heard it, Trude started to immediately shake her head.

"No, no, no, no! That's not what I came here for!"she exclaimed."Ester wanted me to get better knowledge of other teammates! I visited almost everyone and you're next on my list!"

Suvi looked at Witch from top to bottom.

"That's a pity. Because I'm sure you would look pretty well naked."she said with bigger smile.

A shiver came through Witch's back.

"Please."she said."Stop. Just stop."

"As you wish."Suvi said in sexy tone."So, what do you want to know about me?"

"Some basic info."

Girl nodded and started:

"Okay then. I was born on April 3, 2132 in Oulu, Finland. But when I was two, my family moved to Mars, as my father was appointed ambassador of Earth there."

"I know, Ester told this to me."Trude said.

"Okay. On Mars, I ended elementary school and then, I moved to academy, where I learned how to pilot a Cyclone and here we are today."Suvi ended.

The two stood there, silent, for a minute.

"That's all what you want to say about your life?"Witch finally asked.

Suvi just threw up her arms.

"I had simple childhood. It's boring story."she said.

"Well…Then what are your interests?"Witch asked and immediately regret this question.

"I like porn."Suvi replied.

There was another moment of silence.

"And if you wouldn't go to military, who you wanted to be?"Trude asked and regret that again.

"I would like to be a porn actress."Suvi said.

Trude simply broke her arms.

"I think I didn't wanted to know that actually."she said."I'll better go."

"If you want to."Suvi said, throwing up her arms.

Witch turned around, leaving the room.

When Suvi stayed alone in her room, she took off her pants and laid down on the bed.

"Well, let's start the fun then."she said.

19:07

Deck 4

Trude didn't wanted to do it, but she had no other way. There was only one squadron member she didn't talked to: Aquexymeva.

She was stressed about what could happen during this talk. She hoped that the Tertan won't be mad about what happened then in the hangar.

She found the room numbered 345 and knocked.

"Please, enter!"Aqi's voice came from the second side.

Witch used the door opening code and entered inside.

There, she saw some posters on the walls, like in some previous rooms. However, instead of any Human language, the posters had inscriptions in an alien language, probably Tertan. On shelves, she could see holo-frames with photos.

Aquexymeva was laying on her bed, looking at Trude. It was hard for Witch to look at something, that made her remember Neuroi so much.

"What can I help you with?"the Tertan asked.

Trude shook her head and again looked at Aqi.

"Eh…"Witch tried to find a way to start the conversation."You're not angry about what happened back in hangar?"

Aquexumeva simply waved her hand.

"Nah. Ester already told me about everything. I can understand that now."she said."You really are from alternate world, where you fight evil versions of Tertans?"

Witch scratched back of her head.

"Yeah, you can say it like that."she said."Anyway. Ester wanted me to talk with people from the squadron. You're the last on my list."

"Well then."Aqi said, getting off of bed."What do you want to know?"

"So…"Trude started to think."What do you like to do?"

Tertan thought about it for a moment and replied:

"You see. I really like reading. Books let me think about something else than a war. Besides, Tertans in my age are often interested in books."

"And how old are you?"

"I'm one hundred sixty three years old".

There was a short silence, before Trude broke it:

"You have over one hundred years?"

"Yeah."Aqi replied."I know, that for Humans it can be strange, but Tertans are getting older much slower. In my culture, I'm still a teenager. When you change it on Human years, I'm actually seventeen years old."

"And how old you have to be to join military?"

"At least one hundred forty. I joined ten years ago."Aqi smiled under her helmet."And this is my second interest: military. I love everything connected to military. And because we, Tertans, are actually really militarist, it's not hard to be interested in it. Especially when Black Cast is in charge."she added with smile.

Witch tilted her head.

"Black Cast?"she asked.

Aqi nodded.

"Yeah. There are five Casts in Tertan Federation."she said and started counting."Black, Green, White, Red and Blue. The membership in any of Casts is marked by color of armor we wear. This system was created after Tertan Unification War."

Trude nodded. This system was very similar to the one in India, about which she read about in school, before war with Neuroi.

"And what these Casts do?"she asked.

"Black Cast is the ruling one. We take care of politics, military and rule over Federation. However, because this whole action with Holy Order, we had to let other Casts join military too."Witch noticed a bit of reproach in Tertan's voice."It's nothing bad, but by whole life I was taught, that Black Cast is better than others. Anyway. Second, Green Cast, are farmers. They take care of animals and all agriculture of our country. White Cast takes care of all civilian jobs. They are sellers, bakers or mechanics. They also take role of police departments and other uniform jobs not related with military. Red Cast, on the other hand, are workers. Simple workers, doing the most of physical jobs. And finally, the Blue Cast. They are our mental Cast. They take care of all scientific, philosophical, medical and religious stuff."

After hearing all of it, Trude nodded.

"Well. It actually is good division of responsibilities."she said.

"Not for everyone, but yeah."Aqi agreed.

She noticed, that Trude was still looking at her head.

"What?"she asked.

"Why won't you take off your helmet?"Trude asked.

After hearing that, Aqi immediately shook her head.

"Take off helmet? I don't want to die!"she exclaimed.

"Die? Why?"

Tertan scratched back of her helmet.

"Sorry for that explosion. Simply…Oxygen is fatal to us. We can die from it."she explained." It literally burns our lungs. That's why we wear those armors all the time, when we're not on our homeworld."

"So you all wear this armor?"

"No. There are two types of Tertan armor: Military and Civilian. The only difference is that Civilian armor only have Tertrit masks, while Military armor have whole helmet."

Witch nodded. Then, she asked again:

"What is Tertrit?"

"It's the thing we breath with. You can call it 'Tertan oxygen'. In addition, it's deadly to Humans."Aqi replied."But there is a problem. It can be found in atmosphere of only two planets in galaxy: Terta Prime and Mahiz. Both are in our home system."

"It actually can be a problem."Trude agreed.

"I know. Other species have more luck, because they can breath with actually the same substance. Oxygen is the most common gas in the Galaxy after all."

Witch nodded and looked at Aqi once more.

"Anyway. How do you look under this armor?"she asked.

"You will learn one day. Maybe when we liberate Terta Prime or Mahiz? We'll see."Aqi replied.

"It was nice talking to you. Thanks."Trude said and waved hands with Aquexymeva.

Tertan simply nodded her head.

"No problem. I like to talk about my specie."she said.

Witch then left the room and walked away.

20:29

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, Mess Hall

Trude was sitting in the Mess Hall, thinking about the rest of the team. She didn't knew this before, but after she talked with the team, she understood, that she needed this. To talk with the others and make them sure, that she's with them.

"How was the day?"Ester asked, sitting next to her.

Witch smiled.

"Pretty nice. I talked with the others, as you advised me. And you know what? It was really good."she replied.

Ester patter her back and smiled too.

"See? Told ya. Good, that you did it. I'm sure they trust you even more, that at the beginning."she said."Anyway. We are now moving to the Angier Station."

"Why?"Trude asked.

"Simple. We need to refuel and rearm. Also, we're almost out of food and water supplies. So, you know."Ester replied."Better go to sleep now. I'm sure you're tired."

"You don't even know how."Trude agreed.

The two stood up and walked back to their rooms.

XXX

** As the title said. This chapter was simple 'Meeting the Team'. But now, it's time to get back to the action. And because we're now moving to space stattion, you probably know, what will happen.**

**Anyway, see you in the next one!**


	6. Ch6: Danger Station

** Alright, now, as some character backstory task and the introduction of Tertans, it's time to get back into the battle. As Task Force 03 is held on Angier Station, Holy Order don't want to give them a break, of course. **

**So, let's get into it. **

XXX

May 30, 2150

12:34

Angier Supply Station, Angier System

It's been a day, since Task Force 03 arrived at Angier Station. They had to refuel and rearm so this place was perfect for that. Since it's construction in 2049, the station was still up and running. To it, station was created to serve as three things: supply base, shipyard and hotel, making it the most important space station in Human controlled space.

"So, how do you like Angier?"Ester asked Trude.

White Squadron was sitting in one of numerous restaurants on the station. Waiters and waitresses were walking around the tables, taking orders or delivering the already made ones.

"Honestly, I thought it would be more neglected."Witch replied.

"Well. This station repairs and builds over fifty ships daily. Add to it over two million tourists visiting Angier system weekly and you have reason, why are they keeping the station intact for so long."Yuko said.

Angier System was one of earliest Human colonies. After creating first settlements in Alpha Centauri and Sirius Systems, Angier was just right after that. Currently, it held the biggest number of recreation and rest facilities in Human Space. Of course, several military ones were there too.

Trude looked through the window next to her. It was showing the shipyard itself. There, she could see around seven Resistance Heavy Cruisers being build and repaired. She also saw two _Andromeda_-class Carriers and one Shakayan _Garkala_-class Super Carrier. And among them, were the newly designed _Resister_-class Fast Cruisers, designed to do fast and devastating raids into Holy Order territory.

"This shipyard surely has much to do."she stated.

"I told you. Fifty ships per day."Yuko said.

"So, what are we going to do today?"Lena asked.

"We can do many things. Just walk around the station and you'll see."Ester replied.

In that moment, waiter with two silver trays came up to them. On trays, he had eleven plates of spaghetti.

"Your order."waiter said.

"Thank you."Ester said, as she took her plate.

Others did the same and started to eat. Of course, only Aquexymeva didn't ate anything, because of her armor and helmet.

"How can you even eat this?"Tertan asked, seeing the pasta on plates.

"How can you eat bugs?"Arlette shot back.

Aqi simply looked at her.

"Brexian Worm is a real delicacy. You should try it one time. And didn't some primitive tribes on Earth eat bugs too?"she replied.

"We would try, if Braxian Worms didn't started to burn from being exposed to oxygen."Arlette replied."And tribes on Earth are different story."

Trude ate some of her spaghetti and looked at the others.

"Finally some normal food."she said.

"Hey, we had normal food on _Ike_."Lena noticed.

"Yeah, but spaghetti is better than all these canned food."

Main part of Resistance Navy kitchen was canned soy food. It was maybe not the most tasty, but it was at least able to provide enough calories for people eating it.

"True. Canned soy food can be awful."Liz agreed.

"But it can keep you alive in cases of emergency."Dora added.

Others simply threw up their arms.

"Yeah, but not canned food still is the best."Lena stated."Trust me. I know what I'm saying."

They ate their spaghetti and stood up. Ester went to pay for the dinner and they left the restaurant.

"From now, we can do whatever you want."Ester said."We're gonna meet at _Ike's _dock in the next six hours. Understood?"

"Understood!"Everyone replied.

Next, they started to walk in separate directions. Jackie stayed with Trude. They looked at each other.

"So. Where are WE gonna go?"Trude asked.

Jackie thought for a moment, then she knew what to do.

"One of attractions on this station is realistic battle simulator. Wanna try it?"she asked.

"Sure."Witch agreed.

Next, they went towards the battle simulator.

13:09

Angier Station battle simulator

Once Jackie and Trude arrived at the battle simulator, noticed a long queue of people waiting for their turn in the simulator. They counted around seventeen of them.

"Crap. I didn't expected this."Jackie said.

"You know, how long we have to wait?"Trude asked and Jackie only shook her head.

Right then, they were noticed by the man taking payment for simulator usage. He noticed their uniforms and already understood, who the two girls at the end are.

He stood up from behind his desk and came up to them.

"Excuse me. Are you two Resistance soldiers?"he asked.

Trude and Jackie looked at each other and nodded.

"Yes, we are."Trude replied.

"Well then. That's good, because Resistance soldiers can use my simulator without standing in queue. You just need to wait for current clients to end their turn."

One clients, standing right in front of them, turned around, when he heard that.

"Wait, Resistance soldiers don't need to stand in the queue?"he asked.

"That's what I said."manager stated.

Client turned back and tightened his fists.

"I knew I should join the army."he hissed.

By next five minutes, Trude and Jackie waited for current clients to end their turn. When this happened, the manager asked them to come forward. Accompanied by unpleasant sounds coming from everyone in the queue, they came closer and stood in front of manager.

"How much do we have to pay?"Jackie asked.

"Thirty American dollars."manager said.

Jackie reached her wallet and opened it, reaching to one of pockets. She took the said amount and gave to amanger.

"Please, follow me."manager said, hiding the money.

The two followed him to the second room. Inside, they saw two treadmills with VR goggles attached to them.

"Please, stand on them. I'll do the rest."manager said.

"Okay."Jackie replied.

The two stood on the treadmills, while manager put the goggles on their faces and gave the simulation riffles to them. After he did that, they saw the simulation interface.

"What kind of battle do you want?"manager asked.

"Maybe ship boarding?"Jackie said.

Manager nodded.

"You say, you have."

He pressed something on his tablet and the simulation interface changed into the simulation corridor aboard Holy order ship. When the two looked down, they saw AR4s in their hands. Around them, various boxes were laying.

"It's not complicated."manager said."You just need to move your head to look around. You use this simulation riffle like real one. And of course you can communicate in real time. Weapons reload automatically."

"Okay. Thanks."Trude said.

"So, I'm leaving you now. Have a fun time."manager said.

And he left, leaving two girls alone with taking the ship in VR.

"So, what we do first?"Trude asked.

In response, a bullet passed by hear head. She quickly ducked down behind one of boxes, with Jackie doing the same.

"So you know what to do now."Jackie said.

She then leaned from behind her cover and fired in the direction of Holy Order soldiers. Trude did the same and for the first time, although in virtual reality, she saw Holy Order uniform.

What was most surprising for her, was that the helmets were a bit…rectangular. To it, their uniforms were actually almost similar to the ones worn by Resistance, but were in colors of brown, yellow and sandy.

"On your left!"Jackie exclaimed.

Trude looked in left and saw Holy Order soldiers approaching her. She aimed her riffle and fired at them. Bullets pierced through their vests and uniforms. Soldiers fell on the ground.

"Nice one!"Jackie exclaimed.

She again leaned form her cover and fired again. Two Holy Order soldiers fell on the ground. Trude leaned too and fired another series. Another enemies fell on the ground.

"Trude! Grenades!"Jackie said.

Saying that, she reached grenade on her harness. Witch did the same and they threw them into group of enemy soldiers. Not long after that, they heard explosions. And when they looked over the boxes, they saw enemies literally in pieces.

For example, Trude saw arm on box she was hiding behind.

"Isn't this simulation too realistic?"she asked, standing next to Jackie.

"The more realistic, the better."Jackie replied."Let's go now. We have to take the bridge and then, the ship will be ours."

"Whatever you say."Witch said.

Jackie tilted her head after hearing that.

"What do you mean by this?"she asked.

"Nothing. It's my first such simulation. You probably have a lot of such simulations behind you."Trude explained.

"Yes I have."Jackie confirmed."Then follow me."

She then ran down the corridor. Witch followed her.

Later…

The two stood behind the corner of the corridor. Jackie leaned a little, to see what's in the corridor. On the end of it, she saw guards standing next to the elevator.

"Two guards at the elevator."she said.

"Is it a problem?"Trude asked.

Jackie reached grenades on her belt.

"Not a t all."she said.

She pulled the cotter and threw the grenade towards the guards. They both jumped from surprise, but didn't done anything, as grenades exploded right between them. Corridor was filled with smoke and loud explosion, but it all quickly disappeared.

When the left their hideout, they saw two bodies on the ground.

"Well. That was easy."Trude stated.

"Bridge won't be so easy. Trust me."Jackie said."Let's go."

She came up to the elevator and pressed the button. Next, they both turned around, aiming riffles down the corridor, in case if enemies tried to surprise them. Fortunately, nothing like this happened.

Elevator doors opened and the two entered, with their weapons still pointed down the corridor. Elevator doors closed and the two stood down.

"Okay. Now, we just take the bridge and it's done."Jackie said.

"You did it before?"Trude asked.

Her companion nodded.

"Around two times. And five more in our simulator on _Ike. _And honestly, the military simulators are better in my opinion."Jackie replied.

"Why?"

"Because they are even more realistic. And by this, I mean that whole simulation chamber on_ Ike _changes into Holy Order ship."

Witch nodded.

All other talks were stopped, as the elevator door opened and the two quickly entered the bridge, hiding behind numerous consoles inside. Immediately, Holy Order Marines turned in their direction and opened fire. Bridge crew members started to run away, to not get caught in the cross fire.

Trude leaned and aimed at enemy soldier. She pressed the trigger and saw his helmet flying up in the air. Jackie followed her and mowed two more enemies with series from her riffle. Next, she immediately ducked down, as enemy soldiers returned fire.

Witch then moved behind another console. Bullets flew over her head, but non hit her. She dropped behind another console and pressed her back against it. She reached her magazine and reloaded weapon. Next, she leaned again and fired at Holy Order Marines. Another two fell on the ground.

"How many are still there?"Trude asked Jackie by radio.

"I thing that just seven more!"Jackie replied.

"So let's do it!"Trude exclaimed.

Jackie just nodded.

"One. Two. Three!"Trude counted.

The two then leaned from their covers and started unloading their magazines at enemy soldiers. Holy Order Marines were pierced by number of bullets and simply dropped on the ground, dead.

Trude and Jackie left their cover and saw an inscription 'MISSION COMPLETE' in front of their eyes. Next, the ship's bridge again changed into simulation interface and they took off the goggles.

The door opened and manager entered the room.

"How it was?"he asked.

"For me? Nothing special. I do such simulations almost everyday on our ship."Jackie replied."But Trude just had her first time in simulation. Ask her."

Manager turned to Witch and asked:

"What will you say?"

"I have to admin. I liked such simulations. I need to try more on our ship."Trude replied.

Manager nodded his head.

"Of course. Good that you're satisfied by this."he said."Of course, I invite you again."

"Maybe sometime in the future."Jackie said, blinking.

The two then left the simulation room and entered on the station corridor.

"You know what? I was unsure before. But now I'm sure."Trude said, as they were walking down the corridor. Jackie gave her asking look."Your world and future are better than my."

"But well. In both worlds, there a giant and devastating war."Jackie noticed.

"That's the only minus."Trude agreed.

Right then, a group of children ran next to them.

"This station is surely one of the jewels in Human crown."Trude stated.

"it's one of the first stations set up behind the known systems. You should see cities on Angier Prime and moons of Angier XI. These are the real jewels."Jackie stated.

"I will see them one day."

Next, they simply walked towards the _Ike's_ docking bay.

13:59

Angier Station Dock 18

The dock on Angier Station was a giant hangar, able to fill in an _Andromeda—_class carrier, with four giant docking buckles extending from the top. It had cylindrical shape, with the same force field, used in ships hangar doors. This was dock of C-Type, designed to accept Destroyers, Cruisers and Carriers. Smaller ships, like Frigates and Corvettes, had to dock using oldschool docking flanges.

Once the two reached the dock, other members of the squadron were entering the ship too. It was still impressing for Trude, to see that giant ship sitting in the dry dock, with docking buckles attached to it's top. She then knew, how big the universe was. But she shook herself from that feeling and turned towards the ship's entrance.

There, they were stopped by two guards at the entrance.

"Who's coming?"one of guards asked, with strong East African accent.

"White Squadron."Ester replied.

Guard the turned on his communicator and asked something. He listened to the answer and pointed at the entrance.

"You're clear to go."he said.

The squadron then entered the ship.

When they exited the soldiers hearing range, Trude pointed back at them and asked:

"Didn't they stood there when we also left the ship?"

"Yes, they did."Lena replied.

"Then why they wanted to know who we are?"

Arlette threw up her arms.

"Guys and ladies from East African Federation always care about the procedures."she said.

"Yeah. I sometimes think, that they're tied to procedures too much."Anastasia stated.

They walked down the corridor in silence, don't saying a single word. Finally, Ester turned to them and asked:

"So. What have you done by that hour?"

"Nothing."everyone, except of Trude and Jackie, said.

Ester, Jackie and Trude didn't covered surprise.

"How is it 'nothing'?"Ester asked.

"Simple. There were so long queues, that we didn't had time to do anything."Yuko said."And I wanted to play those games in recreation section so much!"

"We wanted to take part in karaoke."Arlette said, pointing at Anastasia.

Ester scratched back of her head.

"Together with Dora, we wanted to go and shoot at shooting range. But queue was too long, too."she said. Next, she looked at Trude and Jackie."And you?"

"We went to the battle simulator."Jackie replied.

"And?"Aqi asked.

Trude and Jackie looked at each other.

"We were let without waiting in queue."Trude replied.

Others looked at them with surprise.

"How?"Yuko asked.

"Battle simulator manager said, that this is because we're soldiers of the Resistance."Jackie explained.

Others only erupted with series of groans and grumbles. Jackie and Trude turned around, to cover their smiles.

14:05

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, Bridge

Captain Eriksson was standing over the holo-table, looking at the Angier System tactical map. There, he could see all of military and civilian facilities, as well as the names of most densely populated ares on all inhabited planets and moons of the system. New Tangiers, Angier Prime Planetary Defense Platforms 3-15, Angier Station and finally, capital of Angier Prime, Terhis City.

Sammer approached captain with cup of coffee in his hand.

"Your coffee, sir."Sammer said.

"Thank you, Sammer."Captain took the cup and took a sip."Ah, that's it! You make the best coffee probably in all of Resistance Navy."

"Thank you, sir."Sammer replied.

And it was true. Sammer's father was a professional coffee maker. He taught him how to make the best coffee, with the best aroma and taste.

"Since all my service in space navy, you're the only First Officer, which makes me a coffee. And you know, that I serve for a long, long time."Eriksson added.

"I know, captain."Sammer said.

Captain Eriksson was truly a real phenomena among all the Human navy. He was one of only few captains, which served longer than the war lasted. He enlisted in 2124, when Resistance wasn't even a thing and UNEC was still main force of Earth's defense and fighting. He started as captain of small frigate, then he was captain of destroyer, to finally end as captain of most advanced and powerful Human warship ever constructed. After creation of Resistance and more and more races joining it, he became one of leaders of most racially diverse fleet in Resistance.

"What are you doing?"Sammer asked.

Eriksson again looked at the table.

"Just looking at system's defenses."captain replied.

His First Officer looked at the map.

"You really think Holies will reach it?"he asked.

"I don't know."Eriksson threw up his arms."It's one of the most critical positions in all of Galaxy. Solar System is just several jumps away."

"And only thing that separates Solar System from Angier, is Alpha Centauri. If we lose these two…"Sammer didn't ended.

"…Sol will be endangered by Holy Order invasion."Eriksson ended.

He put his cup on the edge of the table.

"But until we know, that Holies are far away from the system, we can be calm about any attacks. We just do what we have to do and go back to the frontlines."captain stated.

Sammer nodded in agreement.

"Sir, incoming transmission!"communication officer said.

Captain turned in his direction.

"Give it on the screen."he ordered.

Communication officer nodded and turned back to his console. He pressed several buttons and soon, a holographic screen appeared over the holo-table.

The view on the screen was not good, that's for sure. It showed a terrified face of a man, with sparks and bodies around. From the ceiling, a cable was hanging. The man was looking straight into camera.

"This is French Republic freighter _Vigilant_! We're under heavy fire! I'm repeat, we're under heavy fire!"the man said.

"_Vigilant, _this is captain Eriksson of RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_. What's going on?"Eriksson asked the man.

For several seconds, there was no answer. Finally, the man replied:

"We're being attacked by the Holy Order frigate! We need help!"

"Understood, _Vigilant._ Try to get to the Angier Station."Eriksson said.

The transmission then ended. Eriksson looked at Sammer. Their minds were going in the same direction.

"Holy Order? Here?"Sammer asked.

"Maybe this frigate simply didn't wanted to let this freighter go and followed him all the way here. But we can't rule out any possibility."Eriksson said and turned on the speakers:"All crew! General quarters! Prepare for undocking and fight! This is not a drill!"

Soon after, every crew member started to run around the ship and prepare for incoming combat. Eriksson really wanted to believe that it's a single frigate, so _Ike _could deal with it alone. But truly, he didn't believed it.

Then, whole ship started to crackle, as the undocking process started. The bridge connecting it with station hid, docking buckles disconnected from the Heavy Cruiser and the ship turned on it's underbelly engines to not fall down towards the bottom of the dock. It then started to fly backwards, exiting through the force field into the space without gravity. The underbelly engines turned off and side thrusters started to turn the ship around, to face the direction, from which the freighter's transmission was coming from.

Thrusters made the job good enough, to stop the ship from spinning around in zero gravity. Next, main engines pushed the ship away from station, to safer distance. Front thrusters then made their part of job and stopped the ship in one place.

"_Good that we have all these thrusters. We don't have to inhibit for several million kilometers_."captain thought.

"Sir, we're ready for battle."Sammer reported.

Eriksson looked at him and nodded.

"Is there any help we can get from other ships?"he asked.

However, Sammer shook his head.

"No. Most of them are being repaired or under construction. We're only battle force in the area."First Officer replied."Rest of Task Force 03 is performing patrols around the system."

"Great."Eriksson whispered."Try to contact them. I want them here as fast as possible."

"Yes, Sir."Sammer replied and looked at his terminal.

"Sir, _Vigilant _is in camera range."radar officer reported.

"Show."Eriksson shortly ordered.

Radar officer nodded and zoomed the main camera enough, to see the said freighter. Behind it, they could see smaller, but still visible, frigate.

"Enemy is opening fire and the freighter."radar officer reported.

In that moment, everyone saw a small ball of fire that appeared in place of freighter's engines' light.

"_Vigilant_ just been destroyed."radar officer reported.

"Damn."Eriksson cursed."Why didn't they jumped towards us?"

"They probably had damaged hyperspace drive."one of technicians said.

"Sir, multiple objects coming in our direction."radar officer reported."They're _Vigilant's _chippings. Speed is 10000 meter per second."

"Can we hit them before they'll reach us?"Eriksson asked.

"Negative. We won't manage to. Time to collision-15 seconds."

"Prepare for collision!"Sammer ordered.

After 15 seconds, ship was shaken by the collision of chippings left after the French freighter. One of them even flew just two meter over the bridge.

"Situation."Eriksson said.

"Detecting multiple hull breaches on lower decks. No victims."technician replied.

"Good. Send someone to take care of these breaches."captain ordered."What about enemy Frigate?"He then turned to radar officer.

"It's jumping towards us."officer replied.

Few seconds after he said that, a space in front of Heavy Cruiser distorted for a second, before the Frigate appeared out of hyperspace.

"Good that it's Frigate. Bigger ships could be…"Sammer said, but didn't ended.

Because whole bridge was filled with red lights and sounds of alarm. Sammer looked at Eriksson with apologizing smile.

"I think I said it at wrong time."he said.

"Yes, you did."Eriksson replied.

"Sir, detecting enemy signatures."radar officer said."Three Heavy Cruisers and one Carrier."

Soon after, four more space distortions appeared and soon, said enemy force jumped in front of the _Ike._

"Shit."Eriksson cursed."Send all fighters! NOW!"

"On it, Sir."air controller replied.

Next, he turned to his console.

14:12

White Squadron hangar

"All fighters, launch for battle! I'm repeat, all fighters, launch for battle!"air controller ordered.

"You heard him, ladies. It's our turn."Ester said.

White Squadron, just like other pilots on the ship, were already prepared for battle, so after Ester gave the order, everyone put their helmets on and entered their fighters. Ester only waited for TT-9 to take his place and was ready too.

Hangar door started to open and fighters lifted up from the ground. Trude looked in the direction of Aqi's fighter and saw, as all red marking on it starts to light up.

"Okay, let's see, how she performs in battle."Witch whispered.

"What was that, Trude?"Arlette asked in coms.

"Eh? Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself."she replied.

Fighters slowly left the hangar and when they were outside, they turned their main engines on and flew to meet the enemy formation.

"I prefer to station aboard the Carrier."Lena stated.

"Why?"Trude asked.

"Carriers have catapults. It's better way to start a space fighter, than slowly flying it out of hangar, especially in the middle of battle."Russian explained.

Trude nodded, although she knew Lena won't see her. She then turned her attention on enemy ships.

"Holies are more and more audacious."Dora stated."Even we won't go so deep into enemy territory."

"You know. They're currently winning the war. Audacity is their second name now."Anastasia said.

Right then, everyone's radars woke up to life. Small dots started to appear on them.

"Here they comes."Yuko said.

"Some make them come down."Ester ordered.

She then locked onto one of enemy fighters and fired missile at him. Holy Order pilot countered her with flare and bounced right. She followed him.

Yuko and Anastasia sat on tail of F-59 and fired their guns at the bomber, easily taking it down. Dora dropped behind MiG-67 and also used her gun, bringing the fighter down. Trude used her shield to deflect incoming bullets and bounced left, to escape enemy fighter chasing her. Next, she landed behind another fighter and quickly took it out with her Pathfinder 2.

"Incoming reinforcements."flight controller informed.

In that moment, three Assault Destroyers and two Frigates of Task Force 03 jumped into the area and opened fire at enemy ships.

"That's what I'm talking about."Arlette stated.

She then got missile warning. As quickly as she could, she pressed her flares button and took care of missile.

"That was close."Liz noticed.

"Don't even tell me."Arlette replied.

Destroyers and Frigates then fired their missiles. Objects flew towards the enemy Heavy Cruiser and flew into the PDC defense fire. Some of them were shot down, but tow or three managed to score hit.

"Enemy Heavy Cruiser damaged."weapon control officer of RNS _Tokyo_ reported.

"You heard him? Our chance is now."Ester said.

White Squadron then formed with her and flew in the direction of damaged Heavy Cruiser. Next, they locked onto the breach in the hull and fired their missiles. Missiles flew in the breach and exploded, making that section of the ship to fall off from it and float away.

Heavy Cruiser then was surrounded by a blue lightnings and jumped out of the area.

"One of enemy Heavy Cruisers just withdrawn."_Ike's_ radar officer reported."It will end on scrapyard anyway."

"That's what I like to see."Aquexymeva said.

She then noticed enemy bomber and quickly followed it. She fired her energy gun at him and before Holy order pilot could say anything, his fighter was melted by the high-power lasers of Tertan fighter.

Trude, in the meantime, observed Aqi's doings. She was terrified by how fast Xarar can destroy any Human-style fighter. If Neuroi had those, the war would probably be lost in one month.

"Trude, look out!"Jackie exclaimed.

Right then, Witch noticed missile warning in her cockpit. She quickly fired flares.

"Thanks."she said to Jackie.

"No problem. But don't get distracted like that anymore."Jackie pointed out.

"I'll try."

Jackie then turned her attention on MiG-67 flying towards the _Ike_. She fired her gun, damaging it and forcing to stop his run, then ended his life with two 50mm shells. Emiko used her missile to take care of another bomber, while she evaded missile fired by enemy Frigate.

Said ship didn't lasted for much longer. Two torpedoes fired by _Ike_ flew towards it, hitting in the mid section and disappeared in the explosion, as it was ripped in half.

"That's for _Vigilant_."Eriksson whispered.

Fighters continued to engage each other, as Lena and Trude 'sandwiched' another MiG-67 and Jackie taking care of another bomber.

"It goes too easy."Yuko stated.

"White Squadron, we're detecting signatures of VI-O9 fighters flying out of enemy Carrier."flight control officer reported.

"You had to say it?'Ester turned to Yuko.

"What are these fighters?"Trude asked.

"Heavy fighters made by Hadadrians. Strong and good at eliminating enemy fighters when you put good pilot behind their rudders."Ester explained.

Right then, squadron of eight new fighters appeared in their view. As Barkhorn noticed, they were wing-shaped spacecraft, with backward configuration. They looked more bulkier than any other fighter she saw already and actually looked like heavy fighter.

"Okay, girls."Ester said."Take care of the heavy fighters. Don't let the damage our ships and the station."

"Right on it."Aquexymeva replied.

Tertan quickly followed behind one of fighters and fired her laser gun at him. Fighter got hit, but was still flying.

"Damn Hadadrians."Aqi said."I knew we should annex them after Goshar War."

"What?"Trude asked.  
"Goshar War. It happened around one hundred years ago. Over the cluster of solar systems known as Goshar. These solar systems were source of several natural resources like uranium and titanium. We won it and took the Goshar Cluster for ourselves. But Hadadrian Commonwealth survived the war."Aqi explained.

Next, she locked onto the Hadadrian fighter and fired plasma missile. Fortunately, fighter was not able to withstand that and was changed into cloud of atoms.

"Another enemy Cruiser is withdrawing. Don't let him do it."radar officer ordered.

"On it."one of other squadron leaders replied.

Squadron of eight Eurofighters then turned towards the Cruiser, from which numerous fires started to burst. They lined in formation and locked onto the ship. Next, they fired missiles and watched them fly towards the hyperspace generators and the bridge.

Soon after, they collided with target and whole Cruiser blew up, sending it's parts into multiple directions.

"One Heavy Cruiser and Carrier left."radar officer reported.

"We're going to take care of them, once we clear these heavy fighters."Anastasia said.

Right then, one of heavy fighters dropped behind her and opened fire with his guns. Hadadrians, like Humans, were approximately young race and also preferred to use standard bullets, instead of laser and plasma weaponry.

But before heavy fighter could do any damage to Anastasia, Dora landed behind him and fired a payload of bullets at him. Finally, few bullets hit the main fuel tank and fighter disappeared in ball of fire.

"Thanks."Anastasia said to Dora.

"No problem."Dora replied with dispassionate voice.

Arlette and Lena were also engaging the heavy fighters. Lena used Pathfinder and missiles, which resulted in another decimated heavy fighter. Arlette used the same way and second heavy fighter was destroyed.

But then, one of remaining four heavy fighter sat on her tail and fired the semi-automatic gun at her. Girl almost got hit by several shells, but managed to evade them.

"Somebody hep me?"she asked in radio.

Jackie fired missile and another heavy fighter, destroying it, and turned to help Arlette. She dropped behind heavy fighter and fired another missile at him, easily decimating him and leaving just two more fighters.

"Just two more left."Ester said."Who will do the honors?"

"Leave them to me and Yuko."Suvi said."You can take care of Carrier and Heavy Cruiser."

"Okay. Just do it properly."Trude ordered.

"As you wish."Yuko replied.

Then, the squadron divided, with Yuko and Suvi staying behind and the rest flying to take care of the remaining two enemy ships.

"Okay, there is the plan."Ester started."Lena, Ana, Arlie, Jackie and Aqi. Take care of the Cruiser. Rest, let's take down that Carrier."

"Sync!"everyone replied.

Squadron divided again and two groups flew towards enemy ships.

Once Lena's group reached the Heavy Cruiser, they entered VTOL mode and started to cirlce around the ship, firing at it. They quickly took care of hyperspace generators and A-Jaks attached to it's hull. Ship was returning fire, but was unable to hit the fast moving fighters.

It then started to turn around, but Anastasia was faster and aimed at it's engines. She fired a missile, which flew inside one of engines and detonated. Ship was then ripped into pieces from inside, as the main reactor was reached by the explosion.

"Heavy Cruiser down"Lena reported to Ester.

"Copy that"Ester replied"Carrier is almost down too."

When she said that, she evaded AA missile and returned fire, destroying the battery. Carrier lost almost all of it's defenses and was now trying to turn around and jump into hyperspace. However, Resistance fighter didn't wanted to let him do it.

"Fire all missiles!"Ester ordered.

Everyone locked onto the Carrier and fired. Missiles flew in the ship's direction, colliding with it and making the Carrier explode. Soon after, the ship was just a cloud of plasma and chippings.

"All enemy ships confirmed destroyed. Good job, people."radar officer said.

"Phew, that was energetic."Suvi said."Wanna go drink something now?"

"Eh, Suvi. Sometimes, you know how to get my interest."Arlette replied.

Others just giggled. When Ester stopped, she said:

"Okay, guys. Let's get back on the…"

"All units!"radar officer suddenly exclaimed."Detecting massive object exiting hyperspace! Stay sharp!"

"Again?"Yuko asked."I thought we're done here."

"Just one more, Yuko. I'm sure it's nothing we can't handle."Anastasia said.

Right then, the said object jumped out of hyperspace. And Anastasia regret her words, when she saw, what they're up against.

"I back my words."she said.

In front of them, a massive ship was hovering in the space abyss. Trude noticed, that it resembled Holy Order Carrier, but around five times bigger, with bigger number of weapons.

"I thought that Super Battleships are the biggest ships they can throw at us."Witch asked.

"But you haven't saw _Olympus Mons_-class Super Carriers yet."Ester said."And here you have it!"

"In comparison with Super Carriers, Super Battleships are still smaller."Lena said.

Meanwhile, Super Carrier activated it's main weapon system. Energy was directed towards the Super Laser. Before anyone could say anything, it aimed at one of Assault Destroyers and fired.

Orange beam sliced through the ship like knife through butter. Other two Assault Destroyers tried to evade, but Super Laser was faster and changed target on second, then third ship. Soon, all three Destroyers were changed into scrap.

"Shit!"Ester exclaimed."Engage the Super Carrier!"

However, she noticed, that Super Laser is now aiming in their direction.

"Change of plans! Evade!"she ordered.

Both fighters and _Ike _started to move off of the Super Laser's way. They did it in the last moment, as the laser fired. It hit the dock, in which _Ike_ was sitting earlier, making whole construction explode.

Then, to everyone's surprise, Super Carrier simply turned around and jumped out of the system. Still shocked by what just happened, people couldn't say anything.

"Well."Lena finally said."That was unexpected."

"Yeah…"Ester murmured."Let's get back."

Meanwhile…

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _bridge

The atmosphere on the bridge was the same as with the pilots. Eriksson looked at Sammer, don't knowing what to say.

"Damage report."Eriksson said to the main engineer.

"Destroyers _Tokyo, Berlin_ and _Moscow _destroyed, sir. Frigates _Merlin_ and _Chaser _heavily damaged. Angier Station heavy ship dock destroyed and numerous decks of the station got hit by the chippings."main engineer replied.

Eriksson massaged his forehead and looked at Sammer.

"Make me some coffee. The one you made me before the battle poured."he said.

"On it, captain."Sammer replied and left.

Captain once more looked at the remains of the three destroyers. Over one thousand four hundred men perished just like that in matter of second.

"I'm getting too old for this."Eriksson stated.

He then simply waited for Sammer to bring him his coffee.

15:08

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ briefing room

Pilots of the ship's air wing were sitting in the briefing room, waiting for their commander to start the debriefing. Some were nervous, as they feared, that Super Carrier might return and try to kill them again.

Briefing room was big, as it could fill in around one hundred pilots, but currently, there was only ¼ of this number. On the screen on the wall, was an emblem of the ship. It presented the silhouette of the ship, surrounded by lighting bolts and stars, with sword painted on the ship's silhouette. Inside the rim surrounding the emblem were two sentences. First was "CA-093 USS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_" and second was the ship's motto "We pierce the line". The USS prefix was coming from the ship's past, as before the war, it was part of United States Navy. After it was pulled into United Nations Expeditionary Corp, prefix was changed but not on the emblem.

"Super Carrier."Trude whispered.

"Yeah. _Olympus Mons_-class is the biggest ship in Holy Order navy."Lena said."Only thing, that can rival it, is the older _Admiral_-class Carrier. Bu these ships were all destroyed during UNSA-SDF War. And since the beginning of this war, there were only two confirmed kills of Super Carriers."

Witch turned her eyes on Lena.

"So they can be destroyed?"she asked.

"Sure. But these two were destroyed by ramming. And not every captain is willing to ram enemy ship."the Russian replied.

In that moment, the side door to the briefing room opened and the flight controller entered. He stood next to the podium and started:

"As you probably know, Holy Order attack damaged the station and we lost three Assault Destroyers from our Task Force."

All pilots nodded.

"This is why, we are going to stay in the system, to perform guard duty. At least, until we won't get new dislocation orders. So until then, you are free. Dismissed."

All pilots stood up and started to leave the briefing room. Once outside, White Squadron turned in the direction of the mess hall.

"I hope they order us to sortie as fast, as possible. I want to punch these Holies in faces for what they done here."Yuko said.

"We all do, Yuko. We just need to be patient."Arlette replied.

Yuko simply rolled her eyes and said:

"I know."

Jackie was walking beside Trude. The two were quiet for short time.

"You're worried about these Super Carriers?"Jackie asked.

"And you are not?"Trude replied with question.

Minenian threw up her arms.

"Honestly? I don't know. I knew they existed, but I just didn't worried about them, as I never met them in battle."she then narrowed her eyes."But after what happened today…"

"Girls, leave this topic. Super Carrier left the system. Better focus on using this additional free time we got."Arlette said.

The two looked at each other and simply nodded. Next, they walked down the corridor.

15:32

HOS _Dreader_ Bridge

Bridge of the Holy Order Super Carrier was a giant room, filled with numerous consoles and a holotable in the middle. Captain's cabin was a separate room. All bridge was decorated with giant windows, showing the space abyss outside.

"WHY?! WHY DID YOU ORDERED TO RETREAT?!"

Admiral Kotch simply looked at the girl. He shook his head. How he hated her.

"There's simple reason, Kyla. I didn't wanted the ship to get damaged. It's too important and we can't lose it."Kotch replied.

Kyla Dren looked at Kotch from under her helmet.

"BUT SHE WAS THERE! I COULD FEEL IT! IF YOU JUST…!"Kyla argumented.

"They could bring reinforcements and destroy the ship. We did our job and that's important. Station was damaged and part of enemy force destroyed. That was our task."Kotch replied.

Girl tried to say something more, but knew, that Kotch was right. This was order from Master Broke himself. And she would never question his order.

But when she felt, that she was there…The person she hated so much…

"You're going to get her. One day, but not today. I promise."Kotch said.

Kyla nodded. Next, she simply walked away.

With deep hatred still growing in her.

XXX

**And another chapter is finished. Who is the person Kyla hates? Who is Kyla herself? And what secret she keeps? Wait for further chapters to find out.**

**And now, explaining:**

_**Olympus Mons**_**-class Super Carrier—**warship created during UNSA-SDF War. Only one ship of this class, SDF _Olympus Mons_, took part in the war, while other Super Carriers were in building phase. After the war, the Exodus fleet of SetDef took the two Super Carriers and finished them in Unknown Regions. Since then, Super Carriers became serially produced.

**And things are explained. Now, I can say see you later!**


	7. Ch7: Draining the Fuel

**And here we are again, with another chapter. This time, Resistance is gonna do a retaliation attack after what happened to Angier Station. But not simple attack on convoy or destruction of shipyard. But something more.**

**Without extending…**

XXX

June 4, 2150

11:22

Angier Prime orbit

After the event of Angier Station few days earlier, _Ike_ and other remaining ships from Task Force 03 started to patrol the Angier System more of them and more carefully.

As it turned out, Angier Station was not the only target. Holy Order attacked several mines in the asteroid belt, the military bases on moons Angier Va and Angier VIIb and tried to attack Angier Prime itself, but the defense fleet stopped them. Overall destruction cost was over two billion Russian rubles, as Russians were the main investors in the system.

"Hm. You think these parts are going to be good?"Trude asked Lena.

Russian girl floated towards the Witch. She looked at the said parts and nodded.

"They are still useful. Hide them into the box."Lena replied.

The two were currently in computer room of destroyed Holy Order destroyer over the planet. It was part of force that attacked Angier Prime, but scored a critical hit in the machine room and was put out of the fight. The life support system was turned off and the crew suffocated. Their bodies still were floating around in zero-gravity.

Command ordered to salvage everything, what still could be useful. Much to everyone's happiness, most of ship's systems were still operational and could be re-used.

"We might use all of these systems to make new ships."Lena stated.

"Why do we even have to salvage this ship?"Trude asked.

"In hard times, you need to look for every possible source of resources. When it comes to electronics and ship parts, we use wrecks as our main supply points."Lena explained.

Trude nodded and used her jump-pack thrusters to move to another section of the computer room. She stopped next to one of servers and started to pull it.

"Leave it. It won't be useful."Lena stated.

"Why?"

Lena flew closer to Trude and pointed at the side of the server. There was around five centimeter long gap.

"It was hit by chippings. Everything inside is probably destroyed."she explained.

"Oh. Okay."

"Let's go. We found everything we could. I don't want to stay here any longer."

Resistance pilots quickly turned, grabbed the boxes with parts they gathered and left the ship through a giant hole in ship's side. Outside, their fighters were waiting for them. They opened cockpits and jumped inside.

Trude one more time looked at the ominous shape of the Destroyer.

"What will happen with this hip now?"she asked.

"It's going to be towed to the Angier VI, the system's scrapyard, then pulled from the orbit to the planet's surface. Next, they will cut it into little pieces and change into something else."Lena replied."Recycling on a giant scale."

"True."Witch agreed.

Next, the two fighters turned around and flew in the direction of _Ike_, which was stationing several hundred kilometers away from the Holy Order ship. It was guarding the salvage site, in case if Holy Order wanted to return for what's theirs.

"This is pilot officer Sergeyevna, asking for permission to land."Lena said to the bridge.

"You don't need permission. You're our pilot, aren't you?"flight controller asked.

Lena palmed her face.

"Sorry. Force of habit."she replied.

Two fighters then approached the hangar door of the ship and with VTOL mode activated, slowly flew inside. They made touchdown and turned all fighters systems down. Next, they opened canopies and left.

"I will now go and report our finding to the quartermaster. See you later."Lena said and walked away.

Trude just waved her hand and turned in opposite direction.

On her way out of hangar, she saw captain Sanchez walking down the corridor. She immediately made a room for him and they passed each other. He still had in mind that time, when she collided with him.

"Sorry."Sanchez said.

Witch stopped, when she heard that. She turned around.

"What did you said?"she asked.

"Sorry. For that day. I was just after a big drinking previous night"Sanchez replied.

Not knowing what to say, Trude simply stood there, looking at the captain. He was still talking with the same tone as previous time they met, but now, he seemed more…nice?

"Eh…"Trude tried to say."Thanks. That was no problem, really. I should say sorry."

"Listen, I would like to ask you for going with me to mess hall. Maybe I'll buy you something to eat?"Sanchez asked.

"Um…Sure."Trude replied.

Still surprised by the situation, the two turned in the direction of mess hall and went there. Witch was still thinking about what happened.

11:53

Mess hall

Once in the mess hall, Trude sat at the table and waited for Sanchez to bring food. She was thinking:

"_Well. Let me summarize this. He said, that then, he was just drunk. And now, he wanted to apology to me with something to eat. This world is more and more strange to me, instead of getting more and more easy to understand."_

While she was thinking like that, Sanchez returned with the tray of food.

And what food. Trude saw donuts, several pieces of chocolate and a Shakayan jelly. From all these things, the last one was her least favorite.

"Isn't that too much sweet?"she asked.

"It's apology. For my behavior then."Sanchez replied and took a donut.

Trude did the same and soon, they both were eating. She looked around. Mess hall was empty and only people around, were she, Sanchez and Jokfid.

"Anyway. Is there anymore reason, why you wanted me to come here with you?"Trude asked.

"No. Just to apology."Sanchez replied.

Trude bite her donut and looked at Sanchez.

"So, you're saying, that you was drunk then?"she asked.

"Yeah. I think I need to stop spending so much time with Russians, Czechs and Poles."he stated.

"Why?"

"Because they're probably the most drinking nations in the world."

She ate the donut and grabbed another.

"But well. Sometimes, I don't need alcohol to get so gruff as that day we met."Sanchez said, grabbing piece of chocolate.

"Yeah…I heard gossips."Trude agreed.

They continued to eat and talk for over half an hour. When they ended, Sanchez stood up and shook hands with Trude.

"I hope everything will now be good between us."Trude said.

"Me too."Sanchez replied.

Next, he turned and walked away.

Witch wanted to do the same, but heard a voice behind:

"Well, well, well. Who would've think?"

She turned, to see Anastasia standing next to another table. She was smiling and had arms crossed.

"Wish you two well."the Italian said.

By few seconds, Trude was wondering, what Anastasia was talking about. And when it finally reached her, she started to shake her head.

"No! It's not how it look like!"she exclaimed.

"Why? I'm not surprised, that guys are interested in you. You're pretty attractive."

"I never expected to hear such words from any of you, except Suvi."

Anastasia came up to Trude and patted her arm.

"I would never think, that Sanchez would propose you a date."she said.

"It wasn't a date."Trude replied."He just wanted to apology to me."

"Apology?"surprised Anastasia asked."For what?"

"When we first time met, I collided into him. And he wanted to apology for his behavior then."Wicth explained.

"Hm, okay. But who knows, if this isn't a start of something more?"Anastasia said with blink.

Annoyed by this, Trude wanted to say something, but was cut off by the voice in speakers:

"All available pilots, be in briefing in the next twenty minutes!"

The two looked at each other.

"Let's go."they said at the same time.

Next, they turned around and left the mess hall.

12:19

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _briefing room

When Anastasia and Trude reached the briefing room, others were there already. They sat down at free chairs and waited.

Few minutes later, the air controller entered the room and stood at the podium, like after the briefing after attack on Angier Station. He eyed all pilots and nodded his head. They did the same in response.

"Good day, everyone."he said."I'm happy to see you again. Without further ado, let's get to the bottom."

He turned to the screen and pressed some buttons on his terminal. Next, the emblem on the screen changed into several windows with recordings. Everyone noticed, that these recording were from news, as they saw headlines like "Angier Station attacked" or "Angier System hit by enemy, is Solar System endangered?".

"After the attack on Angier few days ago, the media and public opinion wanted us to do the same as Holy Order did: to hit deep into their territory."air controller said.

Pilots looked at each other.

"This is why, they came up with plan of retaliation attack. We have to strike at Jenkins System."

In that moment, recordings from news disappeared, leaving place for a map of a solar system.

Trude noticed, that Jenkins System is strangely similar to Solar System. She saw eight planets, four rocky and four gaseous. One of them, the third, was even Earth-like.

"Wait a minute."Dora said."Jenkins System is in the middle of Holy Order territory. You want us to jump there and possibly win?"

"If Holy Order can do it, then we can do it too."air controller stated."Anyway. Our target, is Jenkins III."

The map of solar system then started to zoom closer, until it stopped on Earth-like planet. Trude saw giant oceans, two continents, mountain ranges and even could notice deserts.

"Planet is permanently inhabited by around three hundred million people, mainly workers of the refinery. Planet itself is filled with oil. And, as you probably know, oil is one of main ingredients needed to produce the spaceship fuel."

Everyone nodded. Except Trude.

"What kind of fuel the spaceships are using?"she asked Jackie.

"Oilnium, mix of oil and uranium. It powers the ship's generators and fusion reactors."Jackie replied."Really efficient and easy to make, surprisingly."

Witch nodded and returned to listen to the briefing.

"What kind of forces can we expect from enemy?"Arlette asked.

"Good, that you asked."air controller replied.

He pressed something on his terminal again and a photo appeared next to the 3D model of Jenkins III. On it, pilots could see the outlines of two black shapes, seen on the background of Jenkins III ocean.

"According to the information sent to us by our drone, enemy force defending Jenkins III consists of one _Hardwinger_-class Destroyer and _Deliverer_-class supply ship from their auxiliary fleet."air controller replied.

Hearing this, everyone widened their eyes. Jenkins III was probably one of biggest and most important refineries in known Galaxy. And Holy Order defended it only with one Destroyer and Supplier.

"They really don't care, huh?"Suvi asked.

"Holy Order simply have strange occupation policy."air controller stated."They keep stronger garrisons in the systems directly endangered by our attacks. In systems far behind frontlines, they leave only little garrison, able to keep peace on the planets and in the space."

"So, what is the attack plan?"Ester asked.

"Well then. We have to jump out of hyperspace in the range of our guns and missile launchers. After we take care of enemy space defenses, we send a team of Marines to take care of the main planet's refinery. You will be supporting them from air and ground, if you want to."

"Sounds good to me."Yuko said.

Right then, Lena lifted her hand.

"Yes?"air controller asked her.

"What about the replace of _Tokyo, Moscow _and _Berlin_?"Lena asked.

Air controller nodded.

"We took care of this. As replace for lost Assault Destroyers, we talked with the Angier Station council. They're going to give us the two first _Resister_-class Fast Cruisers and the Shakayan _Garkala_-class Super Carrier."

Lena felt her jaw drops, when she heard, that two newest and youngest ships in the Resistance Navy will join them. She then smiled.

"Council decided, that this operation will be a good time to test RNS _Resister _and RNS _Raider_. These ships have to be fast and this time, speed and firepower will be two main factors, if we want to come out victorious from the battle."

Air controller then again pressed buttons on his terminal and every mission info disappeared, once again replaced by the emblem of _Ike._

"That's all for now."he said."Operation, codename Hibiscus, starts in the next twenty four hours. Until then, you're free. Dismissed."

Pilots stood up and saluted. Next, they started to leave the briefing room one by one, until it was empty.

Outside, Trude approached Jackie and said:

"This Jenkins System is strangely similar to Solar System."

"I know, right?"Jackie replied."From what I know, there are several systems resembling Sol. You don't even know, how surprising it was for researchers. Even TRAPPIST-1, currently Marquess System, was not so big surprise."

"And we have to get onto one of it's planets and change it into the battlefield."Trude summed.

Jackie just threw up her arms.

"Welcome to the war, there's no heroes and villains."she said.

Witch looked at her with interest.

"Where did you get such sentence?"

"From an old XXI century song. You need to listen to it."

"Maybe one day."

Next, they walked down the corridor to their room.

June 5

09:32

Trude and Jackie's room

The two decided to get a bit more sleep than the last day. Last night, they were doing an movie marathon, watching some thrillers, comedies and horrors. All of this led them to falling asleep at 23:30.

They wanted to to sleep up until 12:00, but the idea was thrown through the window, when their hand terminals rang. Trude and Jackie stood up and grabbed them.

"What is is?"Trude asked.

"It's from Ester."Jackie replied."We have to be in hangar at 09:40."Jackie replied.

"Alright."Trude replied.

Right then, the two realized something. They looked at the terminal clocks and noticed, that it was already 09:34.

"Oh, shit."Jackie stated.

Without word, the two started probably the fastest dressing session in the history of mankind. As quick as they could, they put on their uniforms and grabbed the vests, which they started to wear on the way to hangar.

09:42

Hangar

Ester and the others were already in the hangar, waiting only for Trude and Jackie. They didn't covered their surprise, when they realized, that Trude, the one which tries to be as disciplined as possible, is getting late for the meeting.

"I suspected Jackie of being late, but Trude?"Arlette asked."She was always on time, when we had a squadron meeting."

"She was actually the first, if you not count Ester and Dora."Yuko said.

"The first time must always happen."Dora added.

Right then, the hangar door opened and the two missing people ran inside. They quickly finished wearing their vests and stood next to the others, saluting.

"Sorry for being late!"Jackie exclaimed.

"Ease."Ester ordered and the two did it."Where have you been?"

Trude and Jackie looked at each other.

"We overslept."Trude replied.

Everyone looked in at Trude with surprise in their eyes. They would expect Jackie to oversleep and be late. But never Trude.

"You overslept?"Suvi asked."Why?"

"We watched some movies before sleep."Jackie replied.

"I really started to get into it."Trude stated.

Pilots looked at Trude and Jackie, moving their sight from one to another. Finally, they all shook their heads.

"I think we have a bad influence on you."Ester stated.

"I don't know."Trude replied, throwing arm her arms."By the way, what is the reason of this meeting?"

"Good you're asking."Ester replied.

She took her hand terminal and activated it. A holographic model of Jenkins III appeared in the air between them.

"So, what do we have to do?"Lena asked.

"Simple. Captain wants us to know the exact placement of all corridors, rooms and hangars of the refinery."Ester replied.

She again pressed some buttons and the model started zooming, finally entering atmosphere and ultimately, landing on one of deserts, showing the refinery.

And when other squadron members saw the size of refinery, their jaws dropped. If they could compare this to something, they would compare it's size to the one of Paris.

"We have to know, where exactly is every single corridor, room and hangar in this giant oil producing city?"Arlette asked.

"I'm okay with that."Dora stated.

"We know."Yuko said."But how do we have to remember that?"

"We don't have to."Ester replied."We just need to write the coordinates to our GPS and when it will be needed, turn them on."

"How much time do we have for this?"Liz asked.

Ester looked at her terminal.

"Two hours."she said.

Everyone immediately ran towards their fighters and grabbed their helmets. Next, they pressed a button on terminals and a cables came out of them. They attached the cables to ports in backs of helmets and started to write the coordinates to the GPS.

Trude also was doing it. Yesterday, Jackie showed her this function of terminal, when she was uploading some movies from the internet. Asked by Trude, she replied:

"When you want to upload something on terminal, you need to go oldschool and use cable. Only when you uploading something FROM helmet, you don't need. Helmets are exception. In their case, you need to use cables too."

And then, Trude asked:

"Why do we even have to do it?"

Ester looked at her and smiled.

"Our role in upcoming operation will not only be supporting ground troops. We have to go on the ground too."Ester replied."So you're going to try fight on foot for the first time."

Witch nodded.

"_Well, this day is going to be interesting_."she stated.

She then continued to write the coordinates and upload them into helmet.

Two hours later…

After the time, green lights lighted up on all helmets, signaling, that uploading was over. They disconnected the cables and hid them inside terminals.

"Done."Trude said.

"Great. Now, we just need to wait for signal to start operation."Ester said.

And they didn't had to wait long, as few seconds later, they heard voice from the speakers saying:

"All combat personnel, prepare for jump to the Athens System."

Trude looked at Ester, confused.

"Weren't we supposed to go to Jenkins System?"she asked.

"Yes. But before that, we need to jump to Athens and then to Haxani."Ester replied."We can't just jump to any system we want. First, we need to get to system, which has connection to our target."

"And Haxani is the one?"Trude asked.

"Yeah. The hyperspace lanes system is pretty strange and till now, we can't understand it."Ester ended.

Right then, the fleet jumped.

12:21

Jenkins III orbit, HOS _Barrier Jumper_

Captain Klaus Dekker was sitting in his chair aboard his Destroyer's bridge. Around him, crew men were sitting at their consoles and checking incoming information. HOS _Disastrous Grin_, the Supplier, which accompanied him, simply hovered next to his ship, performing the diagnostics of it's PDC defenses.

"All PDCs are fully operational."_Grin's_ captain reported.

"Understood, _Grin_."communication officer replied."Continue the diagnostics and return to your position."

"On it."

Communication officer turned to Dekker.

"I need to say it, sir."he said."We probably got the calmest job in the known universe."

"I have to agree."Dekker replied.

Then, the door on the bridge opened. Dekker turned to see, who just entered. And immediately regret that.

An alien, around two meters high, entered the bridge. He was massive, his weight was around two hundred kilograms, what was not strange in case of his specie. He had four massive arms and his head had a pair of black eyes and mouth with sharp teeth. He was covered in blue-gray fur and wore a special variant of Holy Order uniform.

"Oh, right. I forgot about our Hadadrian friend."Dekker said.

Holy Order's, and previously SetDef's, doctrine said, that humanity should rule the galaxy only by themselves and because of that, all other species should be their slaves. But because of lack of human soldiers, as only ten thousand people escaped with SetDef Exodus fleet, aliens were put into army and other positions too, including several species from Unknown Regions.

And honestly, Dekker was happy, that Hadadrians were on Holy Order's side. They were known as the most durable and vital race. And their ships, the _Vekabrle-_class Super Battleships, were probably only almost indestructible and only things that surpassed them, were the _Olympus Mons_-class.

Hadadrian came up to Dekker and stood up next to him.

"Lieutenant Huka'Jen."Dekker said."What brings you here?"

Huka'Jen looked at him and answered:

"Just checking, how are you doing."

His voice was so low, that thrills came down Dekker's back.

"We're doing good. No Resistance scum in the range of one hundred million kilometers."Dekker replied.

"That's good. And I hope it will stay like that."

Dekker laughed in response.

"Man, Resistance isn't stupid."he stated."They're loosing the war and don't want to waste anything on long range missions."

Hadadrian scratched his chin and nodded.

"You might be right. We're the winners here and only we can do such things."Huka'Jen agreed.

The two then erupted in laughs. Hadadrian laugh was deep and bass.

But this happy moment was cut off by one of radar officers saying:

"Sir, detecting fleet exiting the hyperspace! It's Resistance!"

Dekker and Huka'Jen looked at each other, with confused and terrified looks on their faces. Resistance was throwing a whole fleet on them, while they had only one Supplier and Destroyer. Their faces darkened.

"This day can't get worse, right?"Huka'Jen asked.

In that moment, enemy fleet emerged from hyperspace in front of them. And their jaws dropped, seeing the devastating number of them, including Shakayan Super Carrier, against their two ships.

"You had to say this?"Dekker asked.

Huka'Jen just threw up all of his four arms.

12:19

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, Bridge

Captain Eriksson with disgust watched two HO ships hovering in the distance. Their design was awfully Human-like and he still had that feeling, that this war have no meaning.

"Tell all ships to open fire."Eriksson ordered to weapon and communication officer.

The two saluted and did the order. Soon, the hell over Jenkins II started.

First salvo of missiles was fired by one of _Resister_-class. Seven missiles flew in the direction of Supplier, which took them out with PDCs. Ship tried to fire another salvo, but had to defend itself from salvo fired by enemy Destroyer. Second _Resister_ quickly entered the action and defended it's sister ship, destroying the missiles.

_Ike _immediately responded with firing five torpedoes, which were destroyed by Destroyer's PDCs. However, two Corvettes fired their missiles and salvo flew towards the HO ship. As PDCs were still cooling, not all of them were able to defend and missiles hit in the mid-section, leaving giant hole in it.

"Enemy missiles hit the hangar section!"main engineer said to Dekker."We can't launch fighters!"

"Shit!"Dekker exclaimed."Then fire everything we have! Destroy as many as we can, if we have to go down!"

"You're serious?"Huka'Jan asked.

Dekker sent heavy look to him.  
"Yes, I'm serious!"he exclaimed.

Hadadrian backed off a little. He never seen Dekker so furious. But it could be understood, as they actually were about to lose the battle.

Back at the battle, two Resistance Frigates quickly followed the Supplier, which wanted to escape the battlefield. When ship noticed incoming danger, it tried to take care of enemies, firing PDCs at them.

However, captain probably didn't knew, that PDC bullets were too weak to break through Heavy Frigate armor and they could work in Light Frigate or Corvette or other Supplier case. Bullets simply bounced off from Heavy Frigate's armor.

In response, Frigates used their PDCs and soon, bullets were flying through the inside decks of Supplier, ripping people and armor apart.

Several bullets reached the engine room and hit the main reactor, what resulted in giant explosion, destroying the supply ship.

"Sir, HOS _Grin_ just been destroyed."radar officer reported to Dekker.

"I noticed, you idiot!"Dekker shouted back."Don't talk and FIRE!"

Destroyer fired it's missiles and torpedoes, but Resistance ships managed to take care of them with their PDCs. Next, they fired their own missiles.

Dekker in fear watched the wave of fire coming towards him. His PDCs were firing at the incoming projectiles, but they were doing too low damage and missiles were breaking through. He knew he lost.

"What are we going to do?"radar officer asked.

But he didn't got his answer, as three torpedoes hit the bridge, completely decimating the ship. Now, it was floating as a simple wreck.

"That was pretty easy."Sammer stated.

"Because we had number advantage."Eriksson noticed."It won't be so nice on the ground. Tell Marines and Fighter Infantry to get ready."This was directed to the communication officer.

"On it, sir!"officer replied.

12:43

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _hangar

"All troops, prepare for planetfall!"communication officer said in ship's speakers.

Hearing this, Marines started to pick up their gear and running into the hangar, entering dropships and sitting on the seats. White Squadron was also running into the hangar, but instead of dropships, they turned towards their fighters.

They quickly jumped inside and closed the canopies. Through the outside cameras, they could see dropships lifting up and flying out of the hangar.

"This is where our part begins, ladies."Ester said."Let's give them hell."

"You can count on that."Dora replied.

Fighters also lifted up and followed the dropships. All landing force units then started to fly down through the atmosphere, with flames surrounding them.

Trude again felt the needles piercing into her body and injecting the cooling fluids, but she didn't payed attention on that anymore. It simply stopped doing any impression on her after that first time over Alvus V.

Speeding down through the clouds of the planet, she was thinking of doing it much often. The white clouds passing her were pretty amazing view, she had to admin it. But soon, the white clouds were replaced by the view of the sandy desert under her.

"All units, correct your flight."_Ike's_ air controller ordered.

Dropships and fighters then started to even their flight, until all of them were flying in the direction of their target.

"ETA to target-ten minutes."one of dropships pilots said.

"Incoming contacts. Eleven enemy fighters. They're coming from the West."another pilot said.

After he said that, the fighters appeared on everyone's radars.

"Just eleven?"Arlette asked."I counted on something more."

"But I can't complain, if you want to know."Anastasia said.

"White Squadron, you know your task."air controller said."Protect the dropships."

"We're on it."Ester said.

Fighters turned around and flew to meet the incoming enemy fighters.

"Well, I think we will not be bored."Aqi stated.

"I think the same."Ester replied."White Squadron, engage!"

Resistance fighters then started engaging enemy units.

Trude dropped behind MiG and fired her gun at him. Bullets easily pierced through the armor and managed to bring him down. She was followed by Ester, which took down enemy with one missile and Yuko, who destroyed enemy fighter with two 50mm shells. Aquexymeva performed a Barrel Roll, evading enemy fired and performed Loop, landing behind enemy and decimating him with her lasers.

"Ana, behind you."Arlette said.

Anastasia looked at the view from back camera and saw HO fighter chasing her. She quickly performed Cobra and landed behind him. Her gun quickly took care of enemy. Suvi and Yuko 'sandwiched' another fighter and bounced in opposite directions. Arlette fired two 50mm shells and took out another fighter.

"Just four left."Dora reported.

"Okay. Yuko, Arlette. Take care of them."Ester ordered."Rest, let's return to the dropships. We have to land with them."

"On it."everyone said.

Yuko and Arlette started chasing two of four remaining enemies, while rest of White Squadron turned around and flew to rejoin the dropships. They continued their flight, not bothered by anyone, until the refinery appeared on the horizon.

"There it is."Ester said."Everyone, land once you reach the target."

Dropship pilots started to confirm and once they were over the refinery, they started to lower their flight, until they reached the ground and opened the ramps. White Squadron fighters turned the VTOL on and flew on the ground level. Arlette and Yuko then joined them.

Trude then looked next to her pilot seat. There, she saw an AR4 attached to the cockpit's wall with special handles. She pressed them, as Ester told her, and took the riffle. Next, she opened the canopy and exited the fighter.

Outside, she saw Resistance Marines leaving their ships. Among Humans, she also noticed several Nashini, Shakayans and Chakdrik, a race of insectoid aliens, with heads and arms resembling the ones of ants. They wore purple plot armor and helmets. There also were three _Ethan_-type androids.

"What will now happen with our fighters?"Trude asked Ester.

"They will turn on autopilot mode. So, they'll continue to fight without us."Ester replied."But autopilot can make spacecraft crash."

Trude once more more looked at her fighter. By this whole time, she actually started feeling some kind of bond with it. And now, there was a risk of loosing it because of damn autopilot.

"And what the hell is that thing?"one of Resistance Marines asked.

Witch looked in the direction everyone were looking. From one of dropships, two BTR-120 APCs drove out, with one of them pulling a platform with a strange machine on it.

"This"Aqi said"is the newest model of Tertan walking tank, the CB-92. It is supposed to replace older CB-87."

"Hm. We could take our walking tank."Lena stated.

"You also have those?"Trude asked.

"Sure. Walking tanks are common among galactic armies, just like normal tanks. Even Holies have them."the Russian explained.

Right then, the walking tank started to stand up. On it's black armor, red attachments started to light up, making him looking like Tertan armor.

"_And like Neuroi_."Trude thought.

"Okay, people. Who would like to take control over this thing?"Marines technician asked.

Lena was about to lift her hand up, but Ester said:

"Let Trude have it."

Witch looked at Ester like she was crazy. She started to shake her head.

"I can't!"she exclaimed."I don't know, how to control that thing!"

"Lena and Aqi can teach you."Ester stated."Right?"

Lena and Aqi nodded.

"At least I can do this."Lena said.

"Attaching the walker to you terminal."technician said.

He pressed some buttons on walker's main console and soon, the control menu appeared on Trude's hand terminal.

"Alright, is everything ready?"Marines commander asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Great. Keep close to the APCs and hide behind them. We don't know, what awaits us on the second side of the gate."

There, Marines commander pointed at the main gate leading to the refinery.

"But first, we should open this."one of androids said.

"Walking tank can take care of that."Aqi said."But I advice you to be careful with it. There were some…accidents during tests."

"What kind of accidents?"Dora asked.

Aquexymeva threw up her arms.

"They happened to fire at their own troops."she said.

Marines and White Squadron members looked at Tertan pilot and CB-92, unsure what to do now.

"That was a joke."Aqi explained.

One of Nashini Marines said something in his native language, while Chakdrik commander said:

"Tertan sense of humor. As always awful and focused on military."

Aqi looked at him.

"Remember Sakhrali Incident?"she asked.

Chakdrik Marines looked at each other with their ant eyes. Everyone knew in Chakdrik Collective knew about it. Around seventy years ago, Chakdrik Light Cruiser got information about Chakdrik terrorist cell known as Purple Sun stationing on Tertan planet of Sakhrali IV. Sakhrali System itself was divided in two between Chakdrik and Tertans.

Light Cruiser jumped to the planet and, without asking, launched orbital strike at the cell's hideout. However, as it turned out, the hideout turned out to be a normal village in the planet's countryside.

This led to the two years long political turmoil between two species, while Sakhrali System became a battlefield between fearsome Tertan 7th Strike Fleet and Chakdrik 9th Armada. And although Chakdrik troops managed to defend their planets and moons in the system, and even take two from Tertans, politicians ordered all Chakdrik forces to withdraw from the system and give it to Tertans to evade any large-scale war, as Chakdrik Collective had troubles with Purple Sun. This, on the other hand, led to numerous displacements of Chakdrik people and placement of Tertans on their planets.

"Just don't remind me. I lost seventy times great-grandfather then."Chakdrik commander said.

Trude looked at Liz and asked:

"Seventy times great-grandfather? How old is he then?"

Liz looked at Chakdrik commander and replied:

"Two months, or something like that."

"Two months?"Trude asked, not covering shock.

"Yeah. Chakdrik life time is the same as Pharaoh's Ant, so from four to twelve months."

Witch once again looked at the ant-like aliens. She knew, that some of them won't even live to the fourth month.

"Anyway, let's return to destroying the gate."Shakayan commander proposed.

"Good point."Ester agreed."Trude?"

Trude nodded and looked at her hand terminal. There, she could see the view from CB-92s cameras. Lena showed her some buttons and a joystick.

"You use this to move, like in the fighter."Lena explained, pointing at the joystick.

Witch nodded and pullet the virtual joystick on the screen forward. Walking tank started to move forward, with it's guns aimed at the gate.

"Fire, or…?"Marines commander wanted to ask, but didn't managed to.

Without waiting, Trude pushed the joystick forwards and walker simply went through the gate, making hole in it.

"You can do it like that."Dora said."But fire could be better."

"At least, she opened the gate."Marines leader said."Move, move, move!"

Two BTRs set up in line, one behind another, with walker in the front and soldiers following them. On on the second side of the gate, in fifty meter wide corridor between refinery buildings, they started looking around, but didn't seen any enemies yet.

"It's quiet."Nashini commander said."Too quiet."

"I can agree with that."Shakayan commander said.

Meanwhile, Trude was watching the movement of alien Marines. Shakayans, due to being the shortest soldiers in the squad, had problems with catching up with the rest. Nashini, on the other hand, because of their longer legs, were walking the fastest. And Chakdrik were working really synchronously. When their commander turned around, his soldiers made exactly the same move.

"_The strangest squad of soldiers I ever worked with_."Witch stated in mind.

Suddenly, a missile hit the ground literally few centimeters in front of the walking tank. Soldiers started looking around, trying to find the source of the missile. Finally, one of Human Marines pointed up.

"There!"

Everyone looked up and saw a Holy Order trooper with rocket launcher, standing on some sort of a balcony. Yuko quickly aimed her sniper riffle and fired. Soldier's head exploded and he fell from the balcony.

"Really easy."Japanese pilot stated.

Trude and Anastasia approached the soldier, although it was sure, that he was dead. When the stood next to him, Trude noticed, that soldier is a bit different, than the ones she saw in simulation on Angier. He had lighter armor and helmet resembling the ones used back in 21st century.

"He doesn't look like the ones in the simulation."Trude said out loud.

"Because this is soldier of HO Militia."Anastasia explained.

"Militia?"

"Yeah. It's force recruited from locals. Serves as the support for Holy Order Regular Army and Marines Corp. They often get the worst type of equipment."

Witch nodded and the two returned to the group of Resistance soldiers and BTRs.

"We can move."Anastasia said.

"Good."Marines commander said and turned to his radio.

Seconds later, walker and BTRs continued their way forward and. Soldiers were now guarding both ground level and higher positions. But after that one Militia soldier, they met no more resistance.

Finally, they reached the crossroads. Three vehicles stopped.

"Can someone check this crossroads?"Chakdrik commander asked.

"Leave it to us."Aqi said."Liz, let's go."

The Brit nodded and followed the Tertan. They rushed towards the crossroads and stood in the middle, looking around and noticing, that no enemy is present.

"I can't see anyone there."Liz said.

"But it doesn't mean, that enemy isn't here."Aqi stated.

Liz nodded her head.

"I can't complain with that statement."

And then, the two heard sound of tires on the dirt. When they looked everywhere, around a kilometer away, on both sides, two cars suddenly jumped from behind the corners and turned towards them. The turrets on top of them started firing, so Liz and Aqi quickly ran back to the rest of their squad.

"Incoming!"Liz exclaimed.

Soldiers started standing in positions next to BTRs, while Lena turned to Trude.

"Use the walker!"she said.

Trude nodded an they all waited for the cars. Soon after, they stopped in front of them and turrets turned in direction of Resistance Marines. But when the drivers saw Tertan walking tank in front of the column, they immediately changed their minds and tried to escape.

However, Trude worked faster and managed to lock onto the cars. She pressed the button and CB-92s plasma machine guns started spitting fire at the two. Soon, Holy order vehicles exploded, throwing their parts everywhere.

"And this is what I call 'explosive end'."Chakdrik commander said.

"This is why we love these things so much."Aquexymeva said."I think it's clear now. We can move."

Squad was again on the move. They turned left and slowly went up the road, until they turned around and found themselves on a medium-size square, with pipes running everywhere and several fuel tanks standing there.

"Okay, I think we're clear here."Marines leader stated.

And right as he said that, a missile appeared out of nowhere again and hit the side of BTR. APC exploded, throwing away everyone around it. Soon after, more enemy soldiers appeared on the ramparts over them.

"Take cover!"Nashini commander ordered.

Soldiers started running to the closest covers, hiding from incoming enemy bullets. Walking tanks and BTR also put themselves with their fronts towards enemies. BTR's turret started shelling the ramparts and several enemy soldiers fell.

"Trude, help the BTR!"Ester ordered, leaning from behind her cover and firing at enemy position. She killed two.

Witch quickly took control over the walker again, aiming it towards the ramparts. This time, after she locked onto the enemies, instead of guns, she decided to use missiles. When she pressed the firing button, the swarm of small projectiles zipped through the air, until they hit the ramparts and brought them all down.

Trude then grabbed her riffle and leaned too, so she could fire at enemy troops that survived the salvo. She managed to score three kills.

After that, there was silence, when Resistance Marines stopped firing.

"Well. I'm sure they won't stop making our lives harder."Liz stated.

"You don't say?"Lena asked sarcastically."I wouldn't notice."

Liz wanted to say something, but ultimately resigned.

"Okay, check what about them."Marines leader said, pointing at Resistance soldiers affected by BTR's explosion.

Two Marines nodded and went to perform the task. Meanwhile, Ester approached Trude.

"So, how do you like this riffle?"she asked.

Trude looked at AR4 in her hand and nodded.

"Yeah, it have some power. But I still am fan of heavier weapons."she replied.

Ester nodded.

"We can talk to weapons master about it, after we come back on the ship."

"Sounds good to me."

But then, something else sounded. Everyone started looking around, wanting to find the source of sound of hydraulic actuators.

Then, Lena recognized the sound.

"I think we need to hide."she stated.

However, before anyone could say anything, a shape jumped and landed on top of nearest building. As it turned out, it was Holy Order walking tank. It was thicker than Tertan CB-92 and surely more armed. It started scanning the area around and when it found targets, it locked onto them.

"HIDE!"Anastasia shouted.

Right then, walker started firing it's chainguns, mowing down Resistance Marines, which didn't managed to hide. When all of them were hidden and no living targets could be seen, walked turned towards the machines.

It jumped off of the building and started approaching the BTR. Gunner started firing series after series at the walker, not making any impression on it. Walker just came up to the vehicle and simply punched the front armor so hard, that it's arm went inside, killing the driver. Next, walked fired a series from it's chain gun, taking care of everyone else inside and eliminating the BTR from fight.

Next, it turned towards the Tertan walker. Lena saw this and turned to Trude:

"Trude! Try to fight that thing!"

Witch nodded and turned to her hand terminal. She saw the view from the camera and the walker approaching CB-92. She pressed the forwards moving button and walker started approaching the enemy machine, until they both collided and started to engage in literal tug-of-war style fight.

"Really?"one of Chakdrik Marines asked."I never seen something so stupid looking."

"Shut the fuck up, Nixar."his commander said."Better make use of that rocket launcher."

Nixar nodded and took the rocket launcher, which he had with him, and tried to aim it at enemy walker.

But before he could, Holy Order walker moved it's arm and punched the CB-92 in the torso, making it step back. Next, it again collided with it and this time, it gained upper hand and started pushing Resistance walked back. To make sure it will win, it put it's arm to the walker's torso and fired a short series, destroying some systems.

Then, it made one final push and simply pierced through the building wall with it. Soldiers simply looked at this with jaws dropped.

"And I think that's all for your walker."Nixar said to Aquexymeva.

Tertan pilot wanted to use any sharp riposte, but was stopped by walker, which now started to look for them. They were hidden by wreck of second BTR and some pillars of ramparts.

"Nixar, now."Chakdrik commander replied.

Nixar nodded and stepped out of his cover…

…only to immediately be mowed down by the laser fire from the walker. His rocket launcher was also hit by the series and was broken in half. Just like it's owner, which insides simply fell out of his body.

Seeing this, Emiko turned around, took off her helmet and vomited. Anastasia and Arlette did the same.

"Gross."Trude stated.

"Great!"Shakayan commander said."What now, Big Bug?"

Chakdrik commander looked at him with irritated look in his eyes. Black color only made this more terrifying.

"Listen, you little…"he wanted to say, but stopped.

Trude suddenly left her cover and ran towards the next pillar.

"Trude, what are you doing?!"Ester exclaimed.

"Trust me!"Trude replied.

Walker noticed her and started preparing to fire. When this happened, Witch activated her shield and lasers bounced from it into the sky. Next, she used her grappling hook to grab the walker. Machine turned towards her to fire another salvo, but Witch used her jump-pack to jump over the walker. While she was over it, she fired a series from her riffle into the cameras on top of it, managing to destroy three out of nine.

Walker stopped seeing what's over him and on his left and when Trude landed, she used this little gap of time she had so she started to run around and wrapping the hook around walker's legs. Yuko noticed this.

"I think I know what her plan is."she said.

Everyone looked at her.

"Really?"Marines leader asked.

"Yeah, just watch."Yuko replied.

Witch then appeared in view of the back cameras and robot started to turn around, only helping her in wrapping the rope around it's legs. Marines and White Squadron then understood, what she was doing.

"Oh, clever she."Ester said.

Rope was wrapped more and more tighter, until the walker couldn't actually move. Next, it simply fell on the ground.

Trude climbed on top of the walker and looked in it's back cameras. Next, she activated her Super Strength and punched a hole in Walker's armor, tearing out the main unit of the walker.

Meanwhile…

At the refinery command room, walker operator dropped his jaw, seeing what single Resistance scum did with his precious machine. Most shocking part was when she started glowing blue and animal ears appeared on her head.

He threw down the control panel and shook his head.

"I need a vacation."he said in Swahili.

Back with Resistance Marines…

Trude was still standing on top of the walker, with it's main unit in her hand. Others approached her and looked at her with mix of respect and surprise.

"That was awesome, Trude!"Ester exclaimed.

"And stupid at the same time."Dora added.

Ester nodded.

"Yeah, yeah."she agreed."But still awesome!"

"I'm more worried about how we now get to the main control room."Marines commander said.

Aquexymeva then ran towards the Tertan walker, which was lying among rubble of the building. She climbed on top of it, activated her hand terminal and attached it to the walker with cable, to run diagnostics of the systems.

"And how is it looking?"Lena asked."Is it still operational?"

In response, Aqi shook her head.

"Nope."she said, jumping off the walker."Legs are destroyed, while right arm almost was torn off from it. To it, most of cameras aren't operational and all weapons don't work."

"In short, it can only be scrapped."Suvi said.

Tertan nodded and approached the rest.

"We're without any support now."she said.

"Damn it."Marines leader said."What now?"

"Give me few minutes."Ester said.

She walked away a few meters and turned on her communicator.

"_Ike_, this is major Barkhorn."she said.

"We copy you."communication officer replied."What's the situation?"

"We just lost the APCs and walker. We won't be able to reach the control room."Ester presented the situation.

There was a short silence on the second. Well, actually it was two minutes short silence, but finally comms officer returned.

"Then we have change of plans."he said."If we want to expose the main fuel tower main generator, we have to take over the four smaller towers surrounding it."

Ester widened her eyes from surprise.

"Couldn't we do it as a plan A?"she asked.

"Don't ask me. Command planned this action."officer replied."Anyway. I think Marines won't be needed anymore. Tell them to get back on the ship. You can handle this task alone, right?"

"Sure thing. I will tell them."Ester agreed."Barkhorn, out."

Ester then came back to the rest of the assault team.

"And what?"Suvi asked.

"Marines have to go back on the ship. We have to be plan be and take this thing out by ourselves."Ester replied.

"So we have to get back up?"Chakdrik commander asked, pointing into the sky.

Ester threw up her arms.

"That's what command ordered."she said.

Ant-like alien threw up his four arms.

"Okay, I think that it actually may be better."he said.

All Marines agreed and left the area. They carefully started walking back to the main gate, being ready to take out any ambush.

"So, how do we get to those towers?"Trude asked.

"Give me a sec."Lena said.

She pressed some buttons on her hand terminal and soon, their fighters appeared on the sky and started using VTOL to land in front of them.

"Auto-pilot, the best friend of every pilot."Lena said.

Russian approached her fighter and entered inside. Others did the same and few seconds later, whole squadron was in the air again. They started to hover over the area, waiting for Ester's order.

"What now?"Anastasia asked.

"We have to take over four smaller fuel towers to open the main generator of main tower. Sounds easy?"Ester said.

They looked at the five towers in the middle of the complex. They all agreed with Ester.

"All right. Four teams, three members each. Me, Dora and Liz will take care of Tower 1. Suvi, Lena and Arlette take Tower 2. Emiko, Ana and Yuko, Tower 3. Jackie, Trude and Aqi, you take Tower 4. Understood?"

"Understood"everyone replied and flew in separate directions.

Jackie, Trude and Aqi approached the Tower 4, only to be greeted by the AA fire of laser anti-air turrets.

"Enemy AA defenses on the towers."Aquexymeva said.

"We noticed!"Dora replied.

Trude activated VTOL mode and started circling around the tower, firing her gun at enemy soldiers and installations. One of AA turrets tried to get her, but she was faster and turret was blown up into the air.

"One turret down."Trude reported.

"Good. Second is also dead."Jackie replied.

As she said that, she fired a shell from 50mm gun, which leveled the AA turret. Explosion also took out some soldiers standing around it. She was followed by Aqi, which shelled the AA turret with her plasma guns.

"AA on Tower 4 destroyed."she said.

"So we can do the good part."Jackie stated.

She turned her fighter and approached the Tower 4. She stopped next to the tower's ramparts and exited, leaving her fighter on auto-pilot. Trude and Aqyexymeva did the same.

"This is White 10, we're on Tower 4."Jackie said to Ester.

"Great. Get to the control room and wait for my signal."Ester replied.

"On it."Jackie replied.

She turned to Trude and Aqi.

"It's gonna be harder than down there."Jackie said.

"I expected that."Trude replied.

The three quickly entered inside the tower. They ran down the corridor, waiting for enemies, which they found behind the first turn.

Holy Order Militiamen started firing their riffles at them, leaving burned marks on the walls. Three Resistance pilots hid behind boxes laying on the ground and returned fire, killing some enemies.

"You think they can stop us?"Jackie asked.

"No."Trude replied, again leaning and firing a short series, killing two more enemies.

In that moment, idea popped in Jackie's head.

"Trude!"she called.

"Yeah?"Witch replied.

"Could you use your shield?"Jackie asked.

Aquexymeva looked at her, don't knowing what she's talking about. She didn't seen Trude using her shield yet.

"On it."Trude replied, activating her familiar.

Next, she stood up and activated her shield, much to Tertan's surprise.

"What is that?"Aqi asked.

"Every Witch in my world can use such shield to defend herself."Trude replied."It works both against energy weapons and normal bullets. Now, stand behind me."

Aqi and Jackie stood behind Trude, which started to move forward, under fire from Holy Order Militia. Enemy soldiers with shock watched the strange girl with animal ears, which also seemed to materialize this shield out of nowhere.

"Kill them!"one of Militiamen ordered.

They all focused their fire at the shield, but lasers simply disappeared after hitting it. Soldiers in fear watched the incoming threat.

"Jackie, Aqi. Your turn."Trude said.

The two leaned from behind the shield and started firing at the Militiamen. Enemy troops started falling on the ground, pouring their blood everywhere. Some still tried to resist, but were simply shot by Jackie or Aqi.

And then, everything became quiet, as all enemies were laying dead on the floor. Trude deactivated her shield and looked at them.

"I'm starting to have more and more respect for you and other Witches from your world."Aqi said."But it still sounds strange, when you say it out loud."

"Don't tell me, that there were no alternate realities created by Tertan writers."Jackie said.

"There were."Tertan replied."But not about Witches, fighting evil versions of us. I guess."  
"Only thing that makes you identical to Neuroi are the colors of your armor."Trude reminded."But now, let's go and take the control room."

"Sure."Jackie agreed.

The three quickly ran down the corridor, until they reached closed reinforced door, the only thing between them and control room.

"Great. Now what?"Aqi asked.

"I think I can handle it."Trude stated, letting her riffle hand loosely from her belt and again activating her familiar.

"How? These door are reinforced with the most powerful layer of steel in the Galaxy."Jackie pointed out.

Trude looked at her.

"You know, that every Witch have it's special power?"she asked.

"Yeah."Jackie said.

During their stay on Angier Station, Trude explained some thing about her world and hwo it works. When she mentioned about Witches special powers, White Squadron wanted to know hers, but she said, that she'll reveal it at the best moment.

And now was that moment.

She came up to the door and put her hands in the niche between the door's wings. She then used her Super Strength to simply slide the door in two opposite directions, much to Jackie and Aqi's surprise.

"Super Strength."Trude said."That's my special power."

In the control room, Militiamen and control room workers looked at this in fear. There was no way someone could break through that door.

But before they could return to their senses, the three took their weapons and started blasting around. Militiamen and workers were falling on the ground after being hit by Resistance bullets. Trude, Jackie and Aqi were like real death storm, killing any enemy on their way.

Soon, the control room was cleared. The three looked around and nodded.

"Control room secured."Trude said.

"So let's open the main generator."Jackie said.

They came up the control panel and stood over it.

"How is it, everyone?"Jackie asked in radio.

"We just took the control room."Ester said."And others?"

"The same."Lena said.

"We too."Anastasia said.

"So let's open this main generator."Ester said."Pull the main lever on three."

Jackie, Anastasia and Lena approached the main levers and grabbed them. Ester did it, too.

"One…"Ester said.

"…two…"Lena continued.

"…three!"Anastasia ended.

All four levers went down and the hatch started to open on the main fuel tower. Resistance pilots looked at this with smile.

"Okay, let's take that fuel tower out."Ester decided.

Everyone quickly ran out of the control rooms and called their auto-piloted fighters. They jumped into the cockpits and gathered in front of the main fuel tower.

"So, who is going to do the honors?"Yuko asked.

Ester thought for a moment and decided.

"Trude."she said.

Everyone looked at their leader.

"Why?"Dora asked.

"Well. She saved us from that walker. So. Do the honors."Ester explained.

Trude looked at the main generator and locked onto it. She pressed the firing button and missile flew towards it's target. It collided with generator, destroying it, what led to a chain reaction, which started to detonate whole construction from the inside. Soon, the metal fuel tower was falling down in pieces.

"White Squadron, how is the situation?"_Ike's _communication officer asked.

"Fuel tower destroyed and refinery is disabled!"Ester exclaimed.

There was a moment of silence, before controller replied:

"Good. Now, get back on the ship. We just detected enemy forces approaching the planet."

"Understood."Ester said, ending the talk."Let's go girls. We need to get the fuck out of there."

"The faster, the better."Trude stated.

Twelve fighters then set up in 90 degree position and were preparing for space flight.

"Prepare for space flight."_Ike's_ air controller said."Three…Two…Start!"

White Squadron then launched into the space, passing by the clouds and soon, blue sky of the planet started to change into black emptiness of space.

"Space flight finished."air controller said."Now, get back on the ship."

Squadron turned towards _Ike_.

"What do you think Holies are sending here?"Suvi asked.

"Better if it wasn't been the Super Carrier again."Emiko said shyly.

And then, the enemy force emerged from the hyperspace. And it made everyone widen their eyes.

"Come the fuck on!"Arlette exclaimed."Can't they stop sending Super ships on us?!"

In front of them, was a single ship. But not any ship. It was a Hadadrian _Vekabrle_-class Super Battleship, known as probably the most durable ship in the entire Galaxy. It was about half of _Olympus Mons_-class length.

"Oh, hell, why them?!"Aquexymeva exclaimed.

Super Battleship the started opening fire at the fleet. It fired missiles and guns. It managed to knock out Resistance Heavy Frigate, while missiles were easily countered by the Resistance PDCs.

"All units, return on the ships immediately!"_Ike's_ comms officer ordered.

"We're on our way."Ester replied.

"Enemy Super Battleship is launching fighters."radar officer informed.

Pilots looked at their radar and saw numerous enemy fighters appearing on them.

"Shit. They are all Hadadrian heavy fighters. We can't take down so many."Liz stated.

"I know."Ester agreed."White Squadron! Evade combat! Just reach _Ike _and let's get the hell out of there!"

But it wasn't as easy, as Hadadrian fighters started firing at them. White Squadron easily evaded the missiles and bullets, but in few cases, they barely evaded enemy fire.

"Even Neuroi aren't as stubborn as they are!"Trude stated.

"So you should start respect the Neuroi more!"Dora stated, evading missiles.

Trude evaded another gunfire from enemy fighter, by turning her fighter upside down. However, in that way, she put herself out on the line of fire of another fighter under her. Soon, bullets managed to pierce the armor of the fighter.

Witch saw numerous warnings about critical damage and not knowing what to do, she called Ester.

"Trude, bail out!"Ester exclaimed.

"But how?"Trude asked.

"Press the blue button!"

Witch started looking for blue button and when she pressed it, canopy fell off and she was launched out of the aircraft, which, pushed by the force of inertial force, crashed into the Hadadrian Super Battleship. Much to her surprise, it made actually zero damage to the ship's structure.

"_How hard is that thing?_"she thought.

"Trude, look out!"Jackie exclaimed.

Trude looked around and then noticed Hadadrian fighter speeding straight at her. She quickly used her jump pack to move out of the way, but it wasn't enough.

Soon, she felt the sharp wing of heavy fighter colliding with her right leg. Witch looked at her leg to see, if it look bad. And it was bad. Mainly because the leg…was not attached to Trude anymore.

"Mein Gott…"Witch muttered, seeing her oxygen level quickly decrease.

"Trude!"Ester said."Hang in there, we're sending help!"

Trude looked at the ongoing battle. Another Heavy Frigate was destroyed, while one of Fast Cruisers was burning and just few more shots and it will be destroyed. On the other hand, Super Battleship had no visible damage.

"No."Trude stated."Get the hell out of here."

"But…!"Ester tried to oppose.

"No! You're gonna die here! Just go!"

"But you're gonna..!"

"I'm gonna be okay! Get the hell out of here!"

There was a short silence. Soon, Ester said:

"Goddammit!"

Next thing Trude saw, was the fleet jumping away. Super Battleship quickly took his fighter back on-board and jumped out of the are, too.

Now, Witch was alone. Only interesting thing to look at, was the planet below her. She looked at her leg. The wing cut it off in the half of tight length. Her oxygen was almost fully out.

"So that's how this ends?"she asked herself."I'm so sorry, Chris."

She looked at her hand and saw ice crystal forming on them. She smiled.

"So probably it's time. I'll better go to sleep."she stated.

Next, she closed her eyes, waiting for what had to happen. No matter what she would do, there was no way for her to survive.

"Chris…"she murmured, loosing consciousness.

Sometime later…

"Trude…"Chris said.

"Chris?"Trude asked weakly.

"Trude, wake up."Chris said again."Wake up."

"Wake up!"Yuko's voice came to Witch's ears and she opened her eyes.

Much to her surprise, she saw, that she's in Medical Bay of _Ike _once again and White Squadron members are standing over her.

"You had to shout?"Arlette scolded Yuko.

"I just though, that this will make it faster."Yuko replied.

Trude looked at the squadron with both surprise and unsureness.

"Am I dead?"she asked.

"Nope."Ester replied."You're a-okay. Just few scratches."

"Few scratches?"Trude asked."I saw my leg flying away from me!"

"Easy, you're gonna have new one soon."Anastasia provided.

"New?"

Witch then looked at her right leg. And almost screamed in fear.

While she expected to see the stump in place where her leg was, she instead saw a long part of bone covered in skin. She tried to move it and felt as something stings her.

"What the hell…?"she asked.

"Easy, it's just the work of bio-gel."Lena explained.

"Bio-gel?"

"It's special substance, which we created cooperating with Nashini researchers, which is injected into your blood and reconstructs the lost body parts from the scratch. Soon, your leg should be as good as the old one."Anastasia said.

"It can be a bit itchy by first few days, but it's worth it. Just wait two more days ad your leg will ebe fully regenerated."Jackie provided.

Trude nodded. If it was true, then that bio-gel was really useful. Now, she just had to wait until the leg will regenerate.

"Anyway. How did I go here?"she asked.

"Simple."Ester replied."After we made sure that Super Battleship is gone, RNS _Resister_ jumped back and picked you up."

"Although Eriksson was against it."Dora added.

"I should thank the captain of that ship."Trude stated.

"You're gonna have an occasion. _Resister _stays in our fleet now."Suvi said.

Witch once again looked at the leg.

"_Just two days_."she thought.

Squadron then stood up.

"Okay, we're gonna go."Ester said."We don't want to interrupt you anymore."

"Get back to good shape fast."Aqi said.

Next, everyone left the Medical Bay.

Except Jackie.

"Is something the matter?"Trude asked.

"Yeah…"Jackie replied."Who is Chris?"

Witch didn't covered her surprise.

"Where did you heard it?"she asked.

"You was murmuring this name while you was unconscious."Jackie replied."So, who is he?"

Trude scratched back of her head.

"It's not 'he', but 'she'. It's my younger sister. We just go used to call her like that."she explained.

"Oh. And where is she now?"Jackie asked.

"In hospital in Britannia. She got injured by Neuroi and since then, she's in coma."Witch replied.

Jackie bit her lip.

"Sorry to hear that."she said."When you return back to your world and when she wakes up, tell her, that I wish her and you the best."

"I will."Trude said.

"Well. Gotta go now. See you in two days."Jackie said and left.

In the meantime, Trude fell on her bed and imply watched the ceiling over her.

XXX

**And there is the follow-up of Angier Attack. I know this chapter might seem a bit chaotic, but I tried my best. In the next chapter, however, there will be less action and more archeology involved. And with archeology, the mysteries of the past…**

**Anyway, that's about it. See you next time!**


	8. Ch8: The Ones Before Us

**Welcome to another chapter. This time, White Squadron is gonna try and resolve a mystery from the galactic past. The past long forgotten and lost by the thousands of years after the extinction of ancient culture. In short, they are going to explore the ruins of ancient civilization.**

**Let's get into it.**

XXX

June 21, 2150

11:44 local time

Gather VI, Gather System

Liz breathed heavily, trying to squeeze through the tight corridor. She lighted up the few meters in front of her and immediately felt cold, knowing, that the ice corridor is gonna become tighter and tighter.

She tried to look behind her, but she couldn't.

"Emiko, are you okay?"she asked, worried about her step-sister.

"Yes, Liz."Emiko replied.

Girl really wanted to go with Liz, although older sister was opposing it, as she didn't wanted Emiko to get hurt. But finally, she had to agree.

"Okay, just keep close and you'll be okay. Understood?"Liz asked.

"Understood."Emiko provided.

Liz again looked forward. Corridor was still dark and cold.

"_My historian mind will kill me someday_."she stated in mind.

Three days earlier…

June 18, 2150

16:03 on-board time

Athens System, RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_, mess hall

White Squadron was eating a dinner in ship's mess hall. Since the operation in Jenkins System, Task Force 03 was again put on standby, while the ships damaged by Hadadrian Super Battleship were being repaired.

Trude once again looked at her newly regenerated leg. She again felt the stinging and quickly scratched it.

"Told you it's gonna be itchy."Arlette said.

"I noticed. How long it will take, before it stop?"Trude replied.

"Often it takes three weeks. So wait just few more days."Ester replied.

She then took another bite of her jam filled pancake. She stood up and exclaimed:

"Ze German pancakez are ze bezt in ze vorld!"

Others simply laughed, hearing Ester trying to speak with heavier German accent than usual.

"Just stop, or I will start calling you Nazi."Lena stated.

"Sorry, I just really wanted to say it."Ester replied.

Right then, the PA announcer said:

"White Squadron, you have to be on the bridge in the next thirty minutes!"

Girls looked at each other.

"Seems like our free time is over."Dora stated, finishing her pancake.

"I would say 'unfair', but I actually wanted something to happen."Suvi said.

"Okay, let's see, what the Higher Ups have for us."Ester said.

Squadron quickly finished their pancakes and went to the bridge.

16:21

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower_ bridge

Once the squadron reached bridge, they were greeted by Sammer standing in the doorway.

"Captain is at the holo-table."first officer said.

"Thanks, Sammer."Ester said, as the squadron walked by him.

Only Trude stopped to talk with him a bit longer. When they ended, she joined the squadron. Jackie looked at her.

"What were you talking about?"she asked.

"He asked how is my new leg."Witch replied."Anyway, what's the mission?"

White Squadron stood around the holo-table and looked at Eriksson. Captain pressed something and the holographic projection of the snow-covered planet.

"Gather VI?"Liz asked.

"Yes. As you probably know, this planet is covered in snow and ice."Eriksson said.

"I can see this."Trude stated, looking at the hologram.

"But it was also one of the biggest archeological sites in Human Space."Liz replied."Until it was abandoned three years ago, due to Holy Order invasion."

Eriksson nodded.

"Thank you, Liz."he said."Anyway, since then, planet was quiet. Until yesterday."

In that moment, the hologram zoomed, showing the red, pulsing marker on the surface.

"Yesterday, we got a distress signal coming from the planet. We don't know who sent it, but we're sure, that the person have trouble."captain explained.

"So, we have to go there and investigate?"Dora asked.

"Yes. You'll go there with RNS _Long Island_, the _Colorado_-class Stealth Frigate. Ship will be guarding the planet and will look for any enemy activity, which can endanger you."Eriksson explained."You have to go there tomorrow."

"But what if it's Holy Order trap?"Trude asked.

"Then, you will have to get the hell out of there as fast as you can. This is the best you can do."Eriksson said.

Squadron nodded. Trude then noticed, that Liz looks at the planet with really happy eyes.

"Is this planet special?"she asked.

Liz looked at her and smiled.

"Why, yes."Liz replied."It was one of main archeological sites when it comes to Enean ruins."

"Enean?"Witch asked, tilting her head.

Everyone looked at each other and back at her.

"Right. You didn't heard about them yet."Ester said."Eneans were the ancient civilization, which controlled all of the Galaxy."

"At least, that's what their documents say."Anastasia added.

"They lived around fifty million years ago and until today, only their ruins and hyperspace lanes system survived."Liz added.

"And why did they went extinct?"Trude asked.

Everyone threw up their arms.

"This is the biggest secret. They just disappeared. Nobody knows why and how."Lena said.

"So, ancient civilization, which had a great impact on everyone's minds?"Trude guessed.

"Something like that. This is why we try to find out as many things about them, as we can."Liz ended.

Captain corrected his cap and nodded.

"Okay. I advice you to get ready for tomorrow."he said.

"Understood."Ester said."We're gonna start the preparations right away."

Squadron saluted and started leaving the bridge.

"You know, I always wanted to see different Enean ruins."Aqi said.

Rest looked at her with asking look. Especially Liz.

"What do you mean by this?"Emiko asked.

"Well, we, Tertans, know about Eneans for a long time. There are numerous ruins on Terta Prime. Some were in my hometown."Tertan pilot replied."But they are from times, before first Tertans even existed and the planet was wilder than now."

Others nodded and continued to ride down the elevator.

20:12

Trude and Jackie's room

After preparing their fighters for the cold climate of the planet, White Squadron pilots decided to take care of their uniforms.

"Why do we have to lead the batteries?"Trude asked, attaching the batteries of her jump pack to the socket.

"Because they not only power up the jump packs, but also the warming system in the uniform. And trust me. You want to have them work on full power, when you land on such a cold ball like Gather VI."Jackie replied, doing the same as Trude.

When they ended, they laid down on their beds.

"Anyway. You think that it really is a distress signal?"Trude asked.

"Honestly? I think it's a Holy Order's trap."Jakcie replied."Gather VI was abandoned three years ago and since then, it was in HO space. None of our researchers would go there, knowing the risk of being captured by the enemy."

"So, welcome to the club. I don't like it either."

But then, Witch smiled.

"But I saw Liz was really thrilled."she said.

"Yeah. She is hard headed historian. She would never let such occasion fly past her eyes."Jackie replied."But still I like her."

"Yeah, she is the girl you can like."Trude agreed.

Meanwhile…

HOS _Dreader_, Gather System

"You think they really fell for it?"Kyla asked.

Admiral Kotch looked at her and smiled.

"Of course. If this what our spy says about this whole Elizabeth Creekford, such historian like her will never pass the occasion to see Enean ruins."admiral replied."And if she succeeds in getting one of the Core Fragments, you will then enter the action."

"I hope so. We can't lose the Core Fragment. Master is counting on us."Kyla replied.

Kotch nodded his head.

"Everything will be done. Supreme Leader will be satisfied."he stated.

Next, they watched the snowy surface of Gather VI, until Kotch ordered the ship to jump away.

The next day…

June 19

13:22 on-board time

RNS_Long Island_hangar

Few hour before, White Squadron moved onto the _Long Island_ and now, were on their way to the Gather System. Everyone were running diagnostics of their fighters, to be sure, that they won't break from some reason in the blizzard on the planet.

"All systems green and flying."Lena said.

"The same here."Trude said.

"And here."Arlette said.

Soon, whole squadron confirmed their readiness for the upcoming mission. Ester stood on top of her fighter and looked at them.

"Alright."she started."As you probably know, Gather VI is currently the territory of Holy Order. We can't be one hundred percent sure, what will await us there. So I advise to leave the fighters with engines turned on, so we have a fast evac. Understood?"

"Understood!"everyone replied.

"Exiting hyperspace in 5…4…3…2…1…"the PA system said.

Soon, Stealth Frigate emerged from hyperspace over the Gather VI. The white surface of the planet was visible under the clouds.

The hangar door started opening and squadron entered their planes Next, they flew them out of the hangar.

Once outside, White Squadron turned towards the planet's surface and prepared for atmospheric flight. Fighters were set up in the position and soon, they were speeding down towards the surface. Soon, clouds started passing by them, as well as snow.

"Hold it tight!"Ester said, as the blizzard started to push them off course.

Twelve fighters quickly managed to gain the control and were now slowly descending in the direction of the distress signal.

"It should be here."Dora said.

Squadron then touched down the ground. The canopies opened and they quickly left the cockpits, with their helmets put on and looking around with their thermography. Fortunately, no enemy was seen.

"Clear."Trude said, aiming her MG into the blizzard.

Now, instead of standard AR4, she was armed with Russian RPD-6, the newest reincarnation of the famous RPD machine gun. After her leg regenerated, she asked the quartermaster for new weapon and she was granted this. Immediately, she fell in love with RPD-6.

"Stay focused. We still can meet enemy."Ester said."Move."

Squad started moving in the direction of signal. Soon, the stepped into something, that looked like a military compound. Trude could see boxes for ammunition, some APCs and even fighters.

"What is this?"she asked.

"Probably the place, where security forces of this archeological site resided."Ester said."They left in hurry, as we can see."

Lena then approached the closes box and quickly shoved the snow away. Under it, she saw the logo in form of red star with hand with hammer on it.

"Oh, that's interesting."she said.

"What?"Trude asked, looking at the logo.

"It's logo of Blood Anvil."Lena said.

Witch tilted her head.

"Blood Anvil?"she asked.

"It's private military company which is based on Mercury in Solar System."Suvi explained."They existed and fought during the UNSA-SDF War, so their gear is a mixture of these two."

"That would explain this R-7 Skelter here alongside old good Jackal."Arlette said, pointing at the two fighters.

Witch narrowed her eyes.

"So they are mercenaries?"she asked and Suvi nodded."There is nothing noble in taking money for fighting."

Others looked at her.

"Don't like mercenaries, huh?"Aqi asked.

"They always break every rule of war! And they fight for the one, who pays the most."Trude explained."Guess, that Blood Anvil would happily attack Resistance if HO simply paid them enough?"

"Mercenaries are mercenaries."Ester ended.

Meanwhile, Dora activated her hand terminal and directed it towards the signal.

"Cut the chat. Signal is there."she said and started walking in that direction.

Others followed her and soon, the blizzard revealed a giant building in front of them. They approached the main entrance and Yuko hacked the system.

"Everything is still intact, surprisingly."she said, as the door started opening.

When this happened, squadron entered inside. Dora was still going towards the signal source, what led them on the upper floor. They entered up the stairs, passing by the remaining archeological equipment.

They stood in front of another door, this time leading to the command center. Yuko once again pressed some things in her terminal and the door opened.

"Arlie, Ana. Secure the stair. Rest, follow Dora."Ester ordered.

Arlette and Anastasia nodded, while rest of squadron entered the command center. Dora turned around and finally reached the source of the distress signal.

"Oh."Dora said, looking at the source.

"That's not, what I expected."Trude said.

In front of them, was laying a dead body of archeologist. It surely had several years, as it managed to rot and was making the characteristic smell.

"Come on, really?"Lena asked."I thought it's gonna be someone living."

Liz looked at the body with resignation. And then, noticed something in it's hand. She knelt and grabbed the hand.

Seeing this, Ester barely stopped form vomiting.

"Really?"Ester asked.

"Wait…"Liz said, slowly opening the hand.

There was a crack and fingers fell off of the hand. This time, Ester didn't stood it and let her breakfast leave her. Dora and Trude patted her back. At the same time sending looks to each other: Dora unpleasant and Trude asking.

Meanwhile, Liz grabbed the thing, that the corpse was keeping. It turned out to be a piece of paper put around something. Girl took the piece of paper and started reading:

"This is the key to the ruins that lay below this planet. Whoever finds it, should immediately destroy it or take as far from here as possible. It will only bring doom to the ones, who will use it."

She looked at the small object. It was the size of normal stone, but was shaped like a tear and was decorated with green-gray markings.

"It's some key to the ruins."Liz said to the others.

"The Enean ones?"Trude asked.

"And how many ruins are on this planet?"Dora asked.

Trude just sent another look to her, this time unpleasant one. She waved her hand and helped Ester to stand up after vomiting.

"I hate dead bodies."she said.

"Back on Jenkins III, you didn't reacted like that, when Nixar was sliced in half."Trude pointed out.

"But I'm talking about the bodies, which are already rotten and fall apart."Ester explained."It's just too gross."

Witch nodded.

"I think I understand."she said, looking at empty sockets of the body.

Liz looked at the key and then at the others.

"Girls. I think, that our rescue mission just changed into resolving the ancient mysteries."she said.

"What do we do then?"Suvi asked.

"I think we need to check, what this 'key' leads to."Liz stated."Follow me."

Not asking much questions, squadron followed Liz outside of the building and behind it. There, they found a digging site, with two gray-green towers sticking out of the ground. Between them was something, what looked like a gate in the ground.

"Wow."Trude said, seeing the towers. They were surely around twenty meters high. Although this whole blizzard around them, they still were impressive.

"What even was this place for Eneans?"Anastasia asked.

"Probably some kind of temple. Other such ruins often turned out to be temples."Liz said."Now, we just need to find a place for this 'key'."

She started walking around the towers. Along the green markings on the towers, she could see the drop-shaped marks, but the 'key' didn't fit into any of them. She tried several times on one tower, then on another.

Non gave any result.

"Crap."Liz stated."None of them seems to fit."

"Maybe there are more?"Aqi stated.

"But where?"Liz asked.

In that moment, Emiko stepped on something burred under the snow. She knelt and started clearing the snow. What revealed itself, was another drop-shaped hole.

"Liz!"Emiko called her stepsister."Look!"

Squadron quickly approached Emiko and looked at the drop-shaped mark. Liz knelt next to her sister and looked at the 'key'.

"Hope it will work."Liz said.

She put the object in the hole and waited for any effect. They waited for around two minutes, but nothing happened.

"Eh. I knew, that…"Jackie wanted to say, but stopped.

Suddenly, the 'key' started glowing green. And before squadron members could say anything, the markings on the towers and the gate in the ground started glowing green too. They all looked at each other.

"Seems like it worked."Lena stated.

Liz quickly wrapped her arms around Emiko's neck.

"Emiko, you're great!"Liz said, hugging her tightly.

"I-It was nothing…"Emiko said, a bit concerned about the attention she was now getting.

But it wasn't the end. There was another green flash and the door started to open. Emiko and Liz stood up, not to fall into the pit below. When gate finally opened, they saw a stone staircase, leading underground.

"I think we activated it."Arlette said.

Others nodded. Probably for the first time in few thousand years, they managed to open this gate.

But it wasn't the only thing they activated.

Somewhere far…

It was dark. Even darker than the darkest night. Ancient Enean mountain warehouse was filled with dead machines, which were ordered to guard the planet. However, once their creators vanished, they simply stopped working. They were laying there for thousands of years. Not getting orders from their masters.

And it was about to change.

The darkness was soon lighted up with hundreds of green lights. Not long after, there was sound of metallic actuators, when machines started to rise form the dead. Soon, they were all standing on their legs and the gate to their grave opened.

"Directives acknowledged. Destroy the intruders."all the machines said in ancient language.

Next, they started leaving the warehouse.

Back at the archeological site…

"What do we do now?"Suvi asked.

White Squadron stood on the edge of the staircase and looked into the darkness. They didn't knew, how deep it was and were a bit scared of it. It was a place, which was closed for several thousand years.

"So, I think someone have to go there and investigate, what is this place."Ester said.

Everyone looked at her.

"You really want someone to go down there?"Yuko asked."And you tell me, that I'm the crazy one!"

"Estie, we don't know, what awaits us there."Dora pointed out.

"And if I learned something from the movies about ancient mysteries, is that they often try to kill you."Jackie added.

"I will go."Liz suddenly said.

Squadron members turned around and looked at the British girl. Silence was hanging in the air for few seconds. They were looking for a good argument, to stop Liz from doing this, what she wanted to do.

"But…what if there are traps?"Arlette asked.

"They surely are."Liz stated.

"And if Eneans left some ancient creatures to guard this?"Yuko said.

"I can kill them, right?"

"What is you get stuck in some tight tunnel?"Suvi asked.

Liz sent unpleasant look to her.

"Are you telling me, that I'm fat?"she asked.

"More like chubby."Suvi simply replied.

Liz sighed.

"I'm going there anyway. You can't stop me from this."she stated.

Ester approached Liz and patted her arm. Girl looked at her commander with asking look. Ester just smiled.

"Stubborn as always. You have my permission to go there."Ester said.

"Thanks, Estie."Liz said.

"But first"Ester pointed out"take some more equipment. You don't know, what is down there."

"I know."

With there words, Liz ran back to her fighter, leaving the rest of the squadron, to wait in the blizzard.

"You really are going to let her go?"Trude asked.

"She's a historian. She would never let such occasion slip. Nothing I would say would change her mind."Ester stated.

"Maybe you're right."Dora agreed.

Soon, Liz returned, carrying a backpack with pickaxes and ropes, as well as flashlight attached to the riffle.

"You had these things all along?"Arlette asked.

"Yeah. I expected, that we're gonna do some climbing. And who knows? Maybe I still will have to."Liz replied.

Arlette shook her head.

"You're always prepared for everything?"she asked.

"Always. I have equipment for every environment hidden in my fighter's closet."Liz said with smile under her helmet's mask."Anyway, I will be going. Wish me luck!"

She then slowly started walking down the stairs leading into the darkness. Everyone observed as their friend disappears into the underground, until only her footsteps were heard. Soon, the door started closing.

"Wait!"Emiko suddenly shouted.

Before anyone could say, she ran down the stairs and followed Liz. She did it right before the door have closed. Rest White Squadron just watched this in both shock and horror, not able to say anything.

"She just did what she did?"Yuko asked.

"Yes…"Ester replied."I think Liz won't be so happy about it…"

And she was right.

Underground…

Liz almost fell off the stairs, as Emiko crashed into her older sister. Miraculously, she managed to keep on her feet, while turning around and looking at her sister, angered expression forming on her face.

"Emiko?!"Liz exclaimed."What the hell are you doing here?!"

Emiko almost fell on the ground for the second time, hearing her sister's tone. She gathered whatever bravery she had and replied:

"I…I didn't wanted to…leave you alone…"

Liz just looked at her sister with expression saying 'Really?'. But still, she couldn't blame Emiko for this. She knew, how stressed she was getting, if she left her alone for longer time. This is why Liz just patted her sister's head.

"I'm sorry."she said."I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"I'm sorry…"Emiko said.

"You don't have to."Liz stated."No let's go. We need to know, what lays under the planet's surface."

Emiko nodded and two sisters started their journey into the planet's abyss.

On the surface…

"You think Emiko will be alright?"Anastasia asked.

White Squadron already secured the area, setting up a perimeter around the building and abandoned mercenary fighters. Yuko was trying to get into their systems, to use their weapons for defense against possible attack.  
"Sure."Lena replied."She's with Liz. Liz would rather die, than let Emiko get hurt."

Everyone around looked at her.

"Don't say anything like that, or it might actually happen."Arlette said.

"Sorry."Lena replied."But I just get stressed, when I don't know, what happens. We can't even call them, because these door in the ground simply block the signal!"

Aquexymeva came up to Lena and patted her arm.

"Just breath deeply."she said.

Ester, in the meantime, was patrolling the area with her visor's zoom function and thermal vision. But the blizzard was not making this task easy.

"You see something?"Dora asked.

"Nothing for now, fortunately."Ester replied."But who knows, if Holies won't appear here to do patrol?"

Dora threw up her arms.

"Who knows?"she said and looked around."By the way, where is Trude?"

She tried to say her name without any bitterness, but she didn't do it well. Ester simply ignored it.

"I sent her to forward position to guard the approach to the archeological site. She will inform us about anything."Ester replied.

"Hope she won't miss anything."Dora said.

And then, Ester's communicator emitted beeping sound. Ester answered the call and heard Trude's voice on the second side:

"Ester, I think we have company."

"What do you see?"Ester asked.

"I don't know. But I think I see some kind of…green glow in the distance. And several geometric shapes."Witch replied.

White Squadron commanders looked at each other. Dora just threw up her arms, while Ester turned back to Trude:

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am. I will send you a photo."Trude replied.

"You know how to do it?"Dora asked.

"Jackie showed me."

The two looked at Jackie, which was opening a box, full of SetDef Volk riffles. She took one of them and checked the status of ammo in the battery/magazine. Now, as Ester though about t, putting Jackie with Trude in one room was good idea, actually.

She then heard whistle coming from her terminal and opened the new message. There, she saw photo Trude sent them.

It showed a lone figure in the blizzard, actually emitting some kind of green glow. It had geometric shapes and Ester was unable to notice anything resembling head. But two long arms didn't looked even like arms.

"Wow. What the hell is that?"Ester asked.

"I don't know and I don't think I want to now."Trude replied."But hey. Does it reminds you of something? These green glows especially?"

Ester started thinking about Witch's words. What could she associate with that thing? Something, what also emits green glow…

She then immediately knew, what could that be.

"Trude, come back here immediately. We need to talk."Ester ordered.

"Understood."Trude replied.

Dora curiously looked at her friend.

"What you think?"she asked.

Ester looked at her.

"I think"she replied"that this planet isn't as lifeless as we think."

With Liz and Emiko…

Liz and Emiko, in the meantime, continued their travel through the dark tunnels under the Gather IV's surface. Emiko kept close to her stepsister, walking literally behind her. She was truly scared. Who knew, what could await them in these tunnel.

"Liz…You know where are we going…Right?"Emiko asked.

"I…"Liz replied."I actually don't."

Hearing this, Emiko could feel fear growing in her chest.

"Hey, don't worry."Liz tried to comfort her."I promise, that we will soon get out of here. Trust me."

"O…Okay…"Emiko replied.

"Stop!"Liz suddenly shouted.

The two then stood on the edge of giant cliff, watching the abyss under them. Liz turned her flashlight down, but couldn't notice the bottom. Trying to find a way to know how deep is this fall, she kicked a rock and started counting, as the rock was falling.

"One. Two. Three. Four…"she counted.

After she said 'four', they could hear sound of hitting the ground. Liz looked at Emiko, which still looked into the abyss.

"It's deep for at least four seconds."Liz said.

"I don't wanna fall down…"Emiko said.

Liz stroked her head.

"Easy, just keep close to me and you won't fall."she stated.

She then reached her backpack, from where she took a pair of pickaxes. She also activated spikes in her boots. Such function wasn't default. Liz mounted these spikes in boots, to use them in hard terrain, or when climbing.

"I think we need to go around this chamber."Liz stated.

"But how wide is it?"Emiko asked.

"_Good question._"Liz thought.

She pointed her flashlight in the left and noticed, that the wall turns around after five or so meters. On the right, it was ten meters. She also looked in front of her and stated, that the chamber is around seven meters long.

"Hm. We'll go by the left wall. This chamber is deep, but not as wide and long."Liz stated."Emiko."

"Yes?"Emiko asked unsteadily.

"Wrap your hands around my neck and your legs around my waist. And keep tight."Liz said.

Emiko nodded and approached Liz. She put her arms around Liz's neck and legs around her waist and hugged tightly, to keep close. Liz felt the weight of both her sister and backpack, but she couldn't just leave her and had to come up with something. It was the first what she thought about.

British then came up to the wall on the left and pierced the first pickaxe into it. She did the same with the second. Both were keeping good. Next, she placed her leg on the wall. Spikes in boots pierced into the wall and second foot soon followed it. Liz was now hanging over the dark abyss below her.

"Just don't look down, Emiko."she warned.

"Okay…"Emiko replied.

Next, slowly, Liz started making her way to the other side. She moved one pickaxe forward and followed it by leg. She heard Emiko's saying something, but she couldn't recognize the words. They slowly made their way through the first five meters, which led to the turn. Now, they had to make it on the other side. So the seven meters.

"Piece of cake."Liz stated.

However, situation turned not to be a piece of cake.

Since the crossing of the abyss started, she was looking up and continuously saying one sentence:

"Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down…"

But finally, the curiosity took over and Emiko looked down. And immediately regret that, as she saw only black emptiness under her. She started shaking, making Liz slowly lose the grip on the pickaxe.

"Emiko, calm down!"Liz said.

And then, she slipped. Before Liz could say anything, the two were sliding down the wall, held on it just by the two pickaxes in Liz's hands. British tried to stop with her boots, but it was too fast.

However, Liz couldn't let them die in such a way. In one moment, she threw lower half of her body back, cringed her legs and with her full force, she slammed her boots into the wall. This worked and the spikes pierced the wall, slowing their sliding down. Soon, the two were just handing on the wall and panting.

"Emiko."Liz said."Are you okay?"

"Y-Yes…"Emiko replied quietly."I'm sorry. I looked down and…"

"You don't have to be sorry."Liz stated."Just don't look down again, please?"

Emiko just nodded in response.

Liz sighed and started climbing up, at the same time climbing right. After something what seemed like eternity, they reached the other side of the abyss and entered on it. They just sat on the ground and looked at each other. Emiko lowered her head.

"We almost died because of me…Why do I have to always end up with friendly fire?"Emiko asked herself.

Liz patted Emiko's head. But she couldn't oppose her sister's statement. Emiko already had had shot down several allied pilots and drones. This is why she was called 'The Biggest Team Killer in the Resistance'. And this only made Emiko's psychic go down even more, as she hated to kill allies and hated, when people called her that.

"It's not fault, really. Let's just continue this and after we will leave this place, I will make you some sushi, okay?"Liz asked.

Emiko looked at her. Smile appeared on her face. She always thought, that Liz makes the best sushi of all.

"Okay."she said.  
"Good. Now, let's continue our adventure."Liz said.

With her words, the two then started walking deeper and deeper into the planet's deep.

On the surface…

Once the photo reached Ester, she immediately ordered a squadron meeting to take place in the abandoned base. They went to the command center, where Yuko and Lena activated the old holo-table in the middle. After that, Ester uploaded the photo Trude took to it and now, it was hovering in front of them. Additionally, she marked the mysterious shape in the distance.

"Well."Ester asked after a while."What do you think about it?"

"I don't know."Aquexymeva said."I never saw anything like this."

"Me too."Lena said."But surely, it isn't organic."

Ester looked at them and sighed.

"But I think I know what might it be."she said, bringing everyone's attention.

"What?"Jackie asked.

"Remember, what also have a green glow? Something what is near us?"Ester asked.

Everyone then started thinking. What could make such a glow and was near them. Something familiar. And they had to have contact with that.

It was Trude, that first knew.

"Ruins."she said.

When she said that, everyone understood too. Ruins also had green glow, which appeared, when they activated the door in the ground.

"Wait. You want to say, that by activating these door, we also activated something else?"Ana asked.

"You hit the point."Ester replied.

Squadron once again looked at the photo in front of them. If this was some kind of old Enean defense system, they were in trouble.

"Girls. We need to fortify this place and keep it long enough, so Liz and Emiko could return."Ester stated."Yuko, how are you doing with these fighters?"

"Everything should be ready soon. I managed to hack few of them, but is till have two or three left."Yuko replied.

"Good. Go and keep it going. Lena, help her."squadron's leader said.

"On it."Lena replied.

Next, the two left the command center and ran towards the fighters outside. Ester looked at the rest of her team and sighed.

"And when I thought, that everything will go peacefully…"she said.

"Well. If something have to happen, it will happen."Arlette stated.

"Murphy's Law?"Dora asked.

French girl nodded.

"Well. Better let's go and keep an eye for these things if they appear."Ester stated."Whatever they are."

Other nodded and quickly grabbed their weapons. Next, they left the room and exited the base. Although it was still snowing, visibility became better a little and now, they could see further. Their thermal vision also was now working more effectively.

"Secure the perimeter and report about everything what is unusual."Ester ordered.

"On it!"everyone replied.

Ester then again turned and started looking into the blizzard. If she would be told to say it, she would for sure say, that she was terrified to her very core.

"Liz, Emiko…Hurry up."she whispered.

With Liz and Emiko…

Liz and Emiko, in the meantime, left the caves under the planet and continued their way through the ruins of the Enean underground complex. As Liz noticed, the walls here were made of the same material, as the door and towers outside. However, they weren't radiating with any kind of glow, so they still had to rely on their flashlight.

"How long can such corridor be?"Liz asked herself.

They turned into another turn, only to stop in front of a wall. Liz looked at it, but didn't saw anything pointing out, that this wall could be moved or overthrown. She sighed.

"Well. We need to find another way."Liz stated.

Emiko then suddenly turned around. Liz did the same and turned flashlight in the same direction, but didn't saw anything.

"What's wrong, Emiko?"Liz asked.

"I think…I heard something…Like quick footsteps…"Emiko replied.

"You probably overheard. But it's better to not ignore that. Tell me, if you hear something else, okay?"

"Okay."

They then turned around and started walking down another corridor. This time, they were luckier and they managed to find a door. But there was a slight problem: they were locked. Liz came up to them and looked at the door from top to the bottom. They had no handle, nor they waned to open, when she stood in front of them. But well. These door were probably few million years old. They had rights to malfunction.

"Hm. How to open this?"she asked.

"Liz…"Emiko said."I hear it again…"

This time, Liz decided to listen closer. And after few seconds, she also heard it. A bunch of fast footsteps, soft feet hitting the rock floor. And because it was so clear sound, it couldn't be just an overhear.

"Emiko. Keep close to me."Liz said, grabbing her riffle.

Emiko stood behind Liz and the two waited for what will happen now. The footsteps slowed down now, but they still could hear them. Liz felt as her finger twitches on the trigger, but she managed to stop it.

"I'm scared…Why did I even went after you?"Emiko asked.

"Because you wanted to be close to me."Liz replied."I don't blame you for…"

Something shot out of the darkness and grabbed Emiko's leg. Girl screamed, as she was pulled by this thing into the darkness of corridor. Liz could only watch in horror, as her sister is being pulled away.

"Emiko!"she exclaimed and ran in the same direction.

But whatever grabbed Emiko, it was faster than her and already was gone. Liz looked up, down and on the sides, looking for any trace of whatever this might be.

"Liz!"Emiko shouted in the distance.

Liz turned towards that scream and quickly ran in it's direction. Still, she didn't knew, what the hell was that thing. It looked, like Emiko's leg was grabbed by a damn tongue! And she didn't knew any creature, which had such long tongue. Maybe except Jafrag, but these things didn't lived here. They lived on only one planet, a tropical one.

"Emiko!"Liz shouted, trying to get answer from Emiko.

"Liz!"voice in the darkness replied.

British quickly turned into another turn and stood face to face with what she was chasing.

It was a bipedal creature, having a severe hump. It didn't had a head and it's long tongue was sticking directly out of the body. It had greyish-blue skin and seemed to look straight at Liz, although it didn't seemed to have any eyes.

"Leave Emiko alone!"Liz shouted.

She was abut to pull the trigger, when creature shot it's tongue at her and grabbed the riffle, ripping it our of her hands. Next, creature again used her tongue and started pulling Liz closer by her leg. Immediately, she grabbed her knife and knew what to do.

She stung the tongue of the creature for few times, making it yawl in pain and let her go. Then, Emiko grabbed her knife and stung the creature in leg with it. It made another yawls of pain. Next, Liz grabbed her pistol from her holster and fired at the creature, literally ripping it apart. Soon, it was laying on the ground in stain of liquid.

Liz approached Emiko and hugged her.

"It's okay, it's dead."she said."He didn't hurt you, right?"

"N-No…Thank you for saving me…"Emiko replied.

"You're my little sister. It was my duty."Liz said."Now, let's go. We need to take care of that door."

She picked up her riffle and together with Emiko, they approached the door, which much to their surprise, were now open and led deeper into the planet.

"Hey, it's open."Emiko said.

"Yeah. Maybe after killing this thing, it opened?"Liz wondered."Anyway, let's go. We have to see, what secrets does this planet have."

And with these words, the two walked further and deeper into the planet.

On the surface…

"I see movement, five hundred meters."Dora reported.

"Copy that."Ester replied."How many contacts?"

"I'm not sure, but I could say, that there are around thirty of them."Dora replied.

Ester looked behind at the perimeter made by the members of the squadron. Trude was laying in the snow, with her machine gun pointed in the direction of potential attack. Yuko was standing on the roof of the command center and scanned the area with her scope. Everyone else were hiding behind barricades they made of Blood Anvil boxes.

"I see them too."Trude reported, looking down her MG's sight.

"Me too."Yuko said.

"Okay, stay calm. Be ready to open fire."Ester ordered.

There was a moment of silence, if you not count the howling of wind. Someone could say it was a moment of silence before the storm. Situation was stressful and White Squadron members were waiting for what was about to happen.

Suddenly, Ester saw a movement too. And before she said anything, a green plasma flew in her direction. She barely evaded it by rolling on the other side.

"Open fire!"Ester ordered.

With this order, all riffles, machine gun and Lena's shotgun started firing in the direction of enemy. Bullets were almost not visible in the blizzard, but they could tell they hit, as in the distance, several shapes fell on the ground. However, waves of green plasma continued to fly towards them. One of these shots fell right next to Aqi.

"Shit!"she cursed."That was too close!"

"I know!"Ester replied."Lena, I think it's time for your surprise!"

"Understood!"Lena replied.

She then grabbed a small device from one of the boxes, opened it and pressed button on it's top. Soon, are was rocketed by the sound of almost hundred explosions, as mines found in Blood Anvil boxes detonated.

Parts of metal started flying in the air, as Enean machines were being blown into pieces by the mines and soon, the green plasma stopped flying towards the White Squadron. The team waited for few more seconds and sighed with relief.

"I think it's over for now."Arlette said.

"Yeah. Now, if something survived these mines intact, we should try and get one of these things."Ester stated.

"Agreed."Anastasia said.

"Let me handle this."Trude said, standing up."Lena, follow me."

The Russian nodded and both she and Witch went in the direction of the blown mines. At the same time, rest of their team was watching if none of these things will return.

Upon reaching the detonation line, Trude and Lena saw numerous small craters in places where mines exploded, as well as numerous parts colored in gray and green. Fortunately, none of them seemed to work as it should.

"These mines surely had the power."Trude stated.

"Anti-tank mines, that's why."Lena replied.

Suddenly, they heard a clattering sound. They immediately turned in it's direction and saw one of these things on the ground, trying to move. However, it missed leg and was clearly damaged, as there was a hole in it's corpus.

Lena quickly put it out of the misery, by firing a shotgun round into it. Next, they approached it.

"Wow, look at this."Lena said in awe.

"Yeah."Trude replied.

The looked at the machine, because it was machine, with curiosity. It's had body in the shape of a shield, as well as pair of arms made of two long, triangular modules each. Leg was looking the same.

Lena came up to it and tried to pick it up, but it turned out to be pretty heavy.

"So, how do we take it back to base?"Lena asked.

"Let me take care of that."Trude said.

She then activated her familiar and her Super Strength. Next, she grabbed the machine and picked it up.

"Okay, Super Strength is always useful."Lena stated."Let's go. I want to quickly look inside of it."

"You never change, huh?"Trude asked."_I'm sure Lena and Yeager would find a common language._"she added in mind

"Never."Lena stated."Let's go, go, go!"

Without anymore talking, the two quickly made their way back to base. Everyone else already entered inside and waited for Trude and Lena to return with their prey.

Once the two entered the building, everyone else gave surprised gasp.

"What is it?"Suvi asked.

"This is what I want to find out."Lena said."Yuko, come with me. I might need you."

Japanese saluted and followed Trude and Lena. Once they reached the command room, Trude put the machine on the table and returned to the others.

"Well. It seems like we have some peace for a while."Dora stated.

"Yeah. But it's sure they will be back."Ana said.

"And Liz and Emiko aren't back yet."Aqi said.

Everyone nodded.

"So, what do we do then?"Jackie asked.

"What we did just now."Ester replied."Hold the position as long as we can. Ana, Trude, go back outside and make sure that these things will be noticed."

"On it."the two replied and walked out.

Ester watched them exiting the base and disappearing in the blizzards. Actually, she was now worried about them. The worst thing was that if these things that attacked them will somehow sneak on the two, they would probably won't inform them, as they die in the first place.

But one thing was certain: this was going to be a long time before they'll be able to get out of this planet.

With Emiko and Liz, several hours later…

After this little fight in the maze, Liz and Emiko had no more encounters with strange creatures and were not met by any trap. Fortunately, as Liz noticed, that Emiko was showing signs of fatigue.

"Liz…I'm tired…"girl finally said.

"Me too."Liz replied."But we first need to find a place to sleep."

This place actually found them, as soon, the two stepped onto the next tunnel. But unlike the tunnel they were now walking, this tunnel was slowly shrinking, until it allowed only for crawling. Liz knelt and turned her flashlight into the tunnel.  
"Fuck. It's long and we can only crawl in it."Liz said.

"So we're gonna crawl now?"Emiko asked.

Liz stood up and shook her head.

"No. We're gonna go back and get some sleep before this tunnel. We're gonna start crawling through it tomorrow."she said.

Hearing this, Emiko fell to her knees.

"Thank you."she said.

Liz took off her backpack and opened it. From inside, she took one sleeping bag. She looked at it and at Emiko.

"Take it."she said.

Emiko looked at the sleeping bag and at Liz.

"But what about you?"she asked.

"Easy. I will handle myself."Liz stated.

Emiko grabbed the sleeping bag and quickly unrolled it. Next, she entered inside. Warm immediately surrounded her and few seconds later, she was sleeping.

Liz, in the meantime, laid next to the sleeping bag and looked at Emiko's calm face. She touched her cheek with her hand.

"_Emiko…_"Liz thought."_She shouldn't even be here. If I haven't joined the military, she wouldn't do it too. But I must make sure she won't be hurt. This is my responsibility as older sister._"

She was laying like that fore few more seconds, before she finally turned on the warming option in her uniform and fell asleep too.

Back on the surface…

Night already fallen over Gtaher VI. All lights in base were lighted up, so to make sure everyone will see what was happening outside. Fortunately, base's search lights were strong enough to break through the snow.

"Okay, Lena, what do you have?"Ester asked.

White Squadron was gathered in the command room of the archeological base and looked at the dead machine in front of them. Lena made every check up needed and was now presenting the situation to the others.

"From what I found out, these machines have over fifty million years."Lena replied.

"And to think, that they are working even now."Dora said.

"So that would mean, that these are Enean machines?"Trude asked.

Lena nodded.

"Yes."she replied."These things are probably the guardians of these ruins. They were dormant, until now."

"But what made them wake up?"Arlette asked.

"Well…"Lena said, scratching her head."I guess they woke up when we used that 'key'."

Everyone looked at each other and at the machine. So it meant, that their current situation was only their fault.

"Now I remember, that when Liz read that note, it was said that we should destroy it or take as far as possible."Trude said.

"Yeah."Ester agreed."Lena, what else did you found out?"

Lena then grabbed one of machine's arms and showed it's armpit.

"From what I gathered, their weak points are the joints, so the places, where limbs meet with the rest of the body."Lena explained."If we aim exactly at them, we might dismantle large number of these robots and take care of them."

"Easy to say, hard to do."Aqi said."Especially with this blizzard on the outside."

"True is true."Dora agreed."But we have to try, if we want to live to the morning, right?"

"Yes."Ester said."Now, let's go to sleep. I will take the first guard. Rest of you deserve some rest."

Not waiting for further words, everyone went in the direction of base's sleeping quarters, which were connected to the command center by the corridor. Ester, in the meantime went to the main gate leading to the base. She stood in the door and sighed.

"Are you okay?"Trude asked, standing next to Ester.

"Why aren't you with the others?"Ester asked.

"I thought, that I might keep you company. We're relatives after all."Witch replied.

Ester laughed a bit and looked into the blizzard.  
"Yeah. True."she said."I'm just worried about Liz and Emiko. We don't know, what is happening with them. And if they are even alive. What if something killed them? Or they met an obstacle impossible to cross and now, they are strangled underground? I'm just worried about them."

Trude put her hand on Ester's arm.

"Easy. I'm sure they are okay."she said."Liz is smart enough to not get killed so easily. And she takes care of Emiko, so I'm sure she will be alright too."

Ester looked at her and gave a weak smile.

"Hope you are right."she said.

"I hope the same."Trude replied."I will go to sleep now. See you tomorrow."

"See you."Ester said.

She then turned and looked back into the darkness of blizzard. She just could wonder, what was happening in there.

June 21

10:48

With Liz and Emiko

Liz and Emiko were already awake and were packing everything to Liz's backpack. Liz herself made sure that they will sleep for long time, so they would have enough energy for the crawling in the tunnel.

"We have everything?"Liz asked.

"Yes. I think. I don't know."Emiko replied.

Liz smiled and patted her sister's head.

"Easy. I made sure we have everything."Liz said."Okay. Follow me. We will have a lot to do now. Let's go to the tunnel!"

The two then made their way down the tunnel, until it was so tight, that they could only crawl. Slowly but surely, they were making their way forward.

"So tight…"Emiko said, as she was almost blocked between two rocks.

"Yeah."Liz agreed.

She then squeezed between several rocks, barely making it through, even after pulling her belly in.

"_Sometimes I hate this my big chest._"Liz thought.

But still, she continued to crawl, still making sure that Emiko is safe and sound.

On the surface…

Another day arose on Gather IV, as White Squadron woke up and looked out the window in base's command room. But of course, what they saw, was a giant blizzard covering the horizon. They just sighed.

"This is why I hate these planets covered in snow and ice."Anastasia stated."They always find a way to make you depressed."

"Agreed on that."Ester said and looked around."Hey, where is Yuko?"

Pilots looked around, trying to find their computer specialist. But, as they could notice, she was nowhere to be found. Dora went t the room she occupied.

"No. She's not in the base."she said, once she came back.

"Then were is she?"Trude asked."I promise that…"

"Here."Yuko said.

Everyone immediately turned around and looked at the Japanese, as she deactivated her visor. All of her uniform was covered in white hoarfrost and ice. She was also hugging herself and shaking.

"Yuko?"Lena asked."Where have you been?"

Yuko just shook the ice from herself and looked at the rest of the squad with smile.

"I woke up earlier to take care of last preparations."she said.

"Preparations?"Arlette asked.

"Just follow me."Yuko said.

She then led the squadron out of the building and towards the closest Blood Anvil fighter, which was R-7 Skelter.

"I've been working on these things since we came here."Yuko said.

"We know, but why?"Aqi asked.

In response, Yuko activated her hand terminal and pressed some buttons. As she did that, all fighters around suddenly activated their engines. They started slowly lifting up and now overlooked the rest of the squadron from the air.

"Wow…"Trude said.

"Yeah, it is impressive."Jackie said."How did you do that?"

"I just created some kind of hive mind for these fighters. These fighters now are under my full control and I can give them any orders, to individual one or to whole group."Yuko explained.

"Yuko. Sometimes, you impress me."Ester said.

Yuko just giggle and covered her face.

"Oh, Estie, you make me blush."she said."Arigato."

"Anyway, hope these things will keep us alive long enough."Dora said.

Japanese nodded. She again pressed some buttons on her terminal and all machines touched down on the snow.

"They will. Skelters and Jackals are old, but their weapons still can give a punch to their enemies."Yuko replied.

Dora nodded, satisfied by this answer.

"Great job, Yuko. I think I owe you one for this."Anastasia said.

"First, we need to get out of here."Yuko noticed.

Anastasia nodded in agreement.

"Okay, people. Once again, prepare for defense. I think these machines will come back soon."Ester ordered.

Rest of the team nodded and started going to their positions around the perimeter marked by the boxes. Some laid on the ground, while some hid behind the boxes and supported their weapons on them, aiming in the blizzard.

It didn't took long for the defense machines to show up. They appeared in the blizzard around five minutes later, approaching the position of White Squadron.

"Remember, aim for joints!"Lena relayed to them all.

"Copy!"everyone replied.

In that moment, first shots of green energy hit the ground in front of them. The battle began once more.

With Liz and Emiko…

After over an hour of crawling through the tunnel, Liz and Emiko made it through the tunnel and could finally stretch themselves, as now, cave was big enough for them to stand on two legs and stretch fully.

"My back feels so bad…"Liz said.

"Mine too…"Emiko whined.

Liz smiled and looked at her.

"But we're finally done with that. Now, let's go forward."she said, correcting her glasses.

She checked her riffle and two sisters once more were on the move to their unspecified target. But it wasn't more than several steps, before they understood they found it.

In front of them, they could see giant door, around seven meters tall and four meters wide. They were decorated with green markings, surely resembling Enean ruins on the surface. The two approached them quickly.

"Liz. Are we here?"Emiko asked.

"I think that…yes."Liz replied."But ho to open these door?"

Emiko could only throw up her arms.

Liz, in the meantime, started surveying the door, looking for any kind of clue how to open them. She soon looked at an inscription written in old language. But, as a true historian, she read a lot about the dead Enean language and could at least partially decipher what it said.

"These door open only after being touched by someone with poor heart and clean mind."she read."But it seems like it don't think I'm worthy."

This statement came from this, that she was touching the door and nothing happened. She sighed.

"Where do we get someone with poor heart and clean mind?"Liz asked.

Her eyes then wandered to Emiko, which tried to decipher the words written on the door, but couldn't.

"Emiko. Can you touch the door?"Liz asked.

"Okay…"Emiko replied.

She lifted her hand and placed it on the door.

Immediately the door lighted up with green light and the two had to to cover their eyes, as light literally blinded them.

But when it disappeared, door started sliding on both sides, as they revealed what was behind them. And inside, Liz and Emiko could see a giant chamber, stretching several hundred meters up. Walls were covered in green markings, while four roads were leading from for walls to the middle of the chamber.

And in the middle of the chamber, sisters could see podium, on which something was placed. They slowly made their way towards it, making sure nothing is awaiting them, like in that dark tunnel.

"Clear."Liz finally said.

They then approached the podium and looked at what it held. As they could see, it was some kind of triangular device, which levitated in the air, thanks to some kind of gravity field.

"What is it?"Emiko asked.

"I…don't know…"Liz said."But I think we just made a very important archeological discovery. So I think it'll be better to take this with us and give to one of museums."

Next, she grabbed the device and took it out of the podium. She slowly looked at it from all sides, before hiding it in the backpack. After she did this, another door opened on the second end of the chamber.

"Oh. Where these door lead to?"Emiko asked.

"Maybe this is exit?"Liz guessed."Let's find out."

Chamber then started to shake violently, almost making Liz and Emiko fall on the ground. The two looked at each other. Then, part of the ceiling fell next to them.

"Oh no…"Liz said."Run!"

The two quickly stood up and started running in the direction of newly opened door. On their way, they barely evaded several more falling rocks and quickly made their way out of the chamber, right as the door were blocked falling piece of ceiling.

"Don't stop!"Liz shouted, as they ran.

This corridor, unlike the ones they went through, was complete and large enough for two people to ran next to each other. Liz and Emiko were making their way out of here as fast as possible, when corridor behind them started collapsing.

"Holy shit!"Liz shouted.

She grabbed Emiko by hand and started running even faster, what shouldn't be possible. Emiko also felt some new power and was running faster, while corridor was literally falling down behind them.

After around five minutes of constant running, girls noticed a light at the end of the tunnel. Liz tried to smile, but was too tired to do it.

"Just…a little…more!"Liz said between breaths.

Emiko didn't had to be told twice. Both sisters made their way to the exit, as they hoped, as fast as possible. And when they were close enough, they made one jump and flew out of the tunnel, right when it finally collapsed.

The two fell with faces first into the snow. Liz was breathing heavily as she smiled, happy, that they made it out.

But this smile was quickly removed, as she heard footsteps. When she looked up, through the falling snow, she could see a figure in black attire standing over her.

"Who…are you…?"Liz asked, still between breaths.

Figure didn't responded. Instead, it lifted it's leg and kicked Liz straight in the face, knocking her out.

Back at base…

"Fall back, fall back!"Ester ordered.

The fight against Enean security robots wasn't going as good as predicted, as machines had the number advantage and simply flooded through the fire. Area was also marked with several wrecks of fighters, which were already used by Yuko as support craft, but where shot down.

Currently, White Squadron was in full retreat, as machines started simply marching through the fire and didn't even bothered, when they were destroyed.

"Faster!"Trude shouted, as she used her shield to protect the rest.

Several green plasma shots hit the shield, forcing Trude to her knees, but Witch quickly stood up and continued to fall back.

Once inside the base, Dora slammed the emergency closing button and door started to close. Trude deactivated her shield and familiar, catching breath.

"Trude, are you okay?"Arlette asked.

"Yeah…just…using my powers…for so long…is exhausting…"Witch replied."Just give me a second."

"We don't have that many."Ester stated.

Right then, the door were shaken by number of green plasma hitting them. Ester looked at Yuko.

"I think it's time for the full power."she said.

"On it."Yuko replied.

She looked at her hand terminal and activated some of it's functions. Next, she connected to her 'hive mind' of fighters outside of the building.

Outside, machines started moving forward, now unopposed by Resistance soldiers. They had their arms pointed in the direction of the enemy, while they walked through the field of burning fighter wrecks. It was time to eliminate the enemy and once more ensure that planet will be calm.

Suddenly, rest of the fighters started lifting up and formed a line in the air. Machines just watched this with interest.

Suddenly, all guns aboard the fighters opened on the machines, immediately wrecking number of them. Machines were clearly surprised by this and by few seconds, didn't knew, what to do.

"Yeah, get some!"Lena said, looking at this taking place from the command center.

"Well, Yuko, I have to say it."Jackie said."Your abilities are actually useful."

"Thanks."Yuko replied.

White Squadron members watched the machines being wrecked left and right by the fighters in the air. Green sparks were flying everywhere and parts were hitting the ground, alongside number of shells and bullets.

It was then, that the first fighter from the line got shot down. It stated spinning and crashed in the number of crates.

"Well. I think our situation turns around."Arlette said.

And she was right. More and more green plasma started flying in the direction of fighters and simply making them touch down. Soon, sky was clear over the area and machines started again hitting the main gate to the building.

"And this is your tactic for you."Dora said.

"Do, not now, please."Ester said.

Dora sighed and looked at the gate from the control room.

"So. What do we do?"she asked.

"What we can do. Last stand."Ester said.

"Hope that it's not truly last stand."Aqi said.

Others nodded and walked down the stairs from control room. Next, they stood in line in front of the door, which started to deform from the force of hitting plasma. Everyone felt their hands shaking, but they had to stand still.

"Girls."Liz said."If we don't get out of it alive…"

"Don't say it, Liz."Ana said."We were in worse situations."

"Yeah. We can get through this one too."Jackie said.

Others nodded and looked back at the door.

Door were then literally wrenched from the hinges and fell on the ground. Revealing a horde of machines behind them.

"Prepare for…!"Ester was about to say.

But before she could, everybody heard a whoozing sound. Soon, they saw a rather strange red disc flying through a group of machines. Disc then turned around and smashed into another group of machines. Situation repeated itself few more times, until all of machines were laying down on the ground, cut into pieces. Disc then disappeared back in the blizzard outside.

Members of White Squadron looked at each other in confusion.

"Yuko."Trude said."It's your job?"

"No…"Yuko replied.

However, they then saw movement in the blizzard. And before anyone could say anything, they saw a figure dressed in black. It looked at them for few minutes, not saying anything.

"Is she someone from us?"Suvi asked.

"How do you know it's she?"Aqi asked.

"I always recognize sexy girl body."Suvi replied.

Everyone looked at her.

"You always have to connect everything to one thing, huh?"Ana asked.

"Well, well, well."the person in black clothes said, bringing everyone's attention."I hoped to finally meet the famous White Squadron."

"What do you want?"Dora asked.

"Just to return something to you."person said.

As she said that, she moved her hand. Soon, White Squadron could see two more shapes in the blizzard, so they aimed their weapons at them. But when the shapes fully emerged from the blizzard, they lowered them.

Liz and Emiko were hanging in the air, several centimeters over the ground. Everyone looked at this in fear, as the two wasn't making any signs of life. Person dressed in black then again moved her hand and two bodies flew forward, crashing into the floor.

Alrette and Trude immediately came up to the two and pulled them back to the friendly 'lines'. Next, they started to wake them up.

"But I will take this."person said.

She pulled her hand and directed it on Liz. Trude then saw a strange, triangular object emerging from Liz's backpack.

"What is it?"Witch asked.

"It's the Core Fragment."person in black said."One of four we need."

"But who are you?"Ester asked.

Person looked at her and the rest of the squadron.

"Kyla Dren."she said.

And immediately everyone in the squadron, except of Trude felt cold grip on their hearts.

"Who is she?"Trude asked.

"Kyla Dren is said to be the apprentice and personal assassin of Supreme Leader himself."Lena said."She has psychic abilities, allowing her for use of telekinesis. As you saw."

Trude once again looked at Kyla. If this was true, then they were in big trouble.

"However, I don't want to kill you today."Kyla said."I offer you to leave this place if you want."

Everyone looked at each other.

"Really?"Ana asked.

"Yes. Supreme Leader wanted only the Core Fragment."Kyla said."Now, as I have it, I don't need you anymore. So you can go."

Not waiting longer, members of the squadron stood up. Trude and Arlette helped Liz and Emiko, which already started to regain senses. The group then made it's way towards the main gate to the building.

However, as she was passing by Kyla, Trude looked at her and Kyla looked back. For few seconds, their eyes met, although Kyla had her mask, and Trude could swear, that she feels something familiar about this woman. But what it was, she didn't knew.

White Squadron quickly made their way towards their fighters, which, fortunately, weren't destroyed by security machines.

"Quick, get inside, before she changes her mind!"Ester ordered.

Liz and Emiko already were okay and quickly started to perform the order. All of them quickly went into their fighters and started the take off process. Soon, Eurofighters were going up and flew towards the atmosphere of the planet.

It took them few minutes to leave the planet's atmosphere, but when they did it, they were filled with dread.

As now, orbiting the planet, was five kilometer long piece of metal known as _Olympus Mons_-class Super Carrier. Warship simply hovered over the planet's atmosphere, not even bothering about the fighters. It surely had to see them on radars, so it should start firing. However, he was letting them go. At least, it looked like that.

"It seems like she was saying the truth."Suvi said.

"Yeah. So better let's get out of here."Ester stated.

Squadron quickly turned in the direction of the Stealth Frigate and made their way towards the ship as fast as possible. Not long after, Frigate entered their field of view.

"White Squadron, get into hangars, quickly!"ship captain said.

"No! We will use hyperspace assist! Just prepare for jump!"Ester replied.

This brought attention of Trude.

"Hyperspace assist?"she asked.

"You know, that always when ship makes a jump, it opens it's hyperspace generators and is surrounded by blue lightnings?"Liz asked.

"Yes."

"These lightnings are able to simply 'grab' onto smaller spacecraft which are not equipped with hyperspace drive, and bring them through hyperspace with them."the British explained.

Trude nodded and the squadron approached the Frigate.

Right then, the hyperspace generators started opening and ship was surrounded by blue lightnings. As Liz said, these lightnings seemed to grab the fighters and keep them in place, while Frigate entered hyperspace, pulling them with it.

Meanwhile…

HOS _Dreader_

Admiral Kotch watched this whole situation unfold, with a hint of satisfaction on his face. Well. They ran away. But even if they tried to fight, they wouldn't stand a chance with his ship. So it's even better, that they ran, so they could fight few more days, before dying.

"Kyla, you have the Cora Fragment?"admiral asked through the radio.

"Yes."Kyla replied."Just like the texts were saying."

"Good. Come back on _Dreader_. We're leaving this place."

And with these words, admiral ended the call and waited.

19:03

RNS _Dwight D. Eisenhower _mess hall

Liz was sitting in the mess hall, looking inside the cup she held in her hands. She sighed. She was so close to making one of the greatest archeological discoveries in Human history. And all of this was taken from her by this girl from Holy Order.

But what she could do? First of all, she was surprised. Second, how could she fight someone, who has and ability to use telekinesis? It surely had to be doomed.

"Hey."Trude said, sitting with her.

Liz looked up and nodded.

"Hey."she said."Wanna drink something?"

However, Trude shook her head.

"No."Witch replied."I came here to see how are you feeling?"

"Ester wanted you to do it?"Liz asked.

"No. I just by myself."Trude said.

British girl sighed and put the cup away.

"Honestly, I feel bad. About all that happened by the last few days."she said.

"You really wanted to get this Core Fragment?"Trude asked.

"Yes. I mean, no. Ah."Liz shook her head."I thought that this might be the biggest archeological discovery in history of mankind. You know how much this thing would spark the interest of scientists?"

Witch just threw up his arms.

"I'm not from your world."she said.

"Yeah, true."Liz agreed and sighed.

Trude narrowed her eyes.

"But truly, you're not worried about the Core Fragment."she stated.

British nodded.

"You're right."she said."It's about Emiko. She almost died. I don't know what would happen, if she…"

Shivers came down Liz's spine.

"Liz, listen."Trude said."But you managed to protect her. You should be grateful for that. You still can protect and care for her, making sure she won't be hurt. Something, others didn't managed to do."

Hearing this, Liz risen her eyebrow.

"Why do I have a feeling, that you're talking from your own experience?"

"Because I do. I also have younger sister, Christiane. She was injured by Neuroi and since then, she fell into coma."Trude explained.

"Sorry to hear that."Liz said, feeling sorry for Trude.

"This is why you should be happy, that Emiko is still here and you can keep an eye on her. She counts on you and you count on her. So do your best."Trude said.

Witch then stood up.

"Well, I will go now. I actually talked with Aqi and she agreed on sparrign with me."

With this words, she started making her way out of the mess hall.

"Trude."Liz stopped her and she turned around."Thank you."

"No problem."Witch replied.

Trude then walked out of the mess hall, covering her smile.

XXX

** Done. Another chapter finally out the way. After this little introduction to Eneans, story will continue with more action-focused chapter. **

**Trivia:**

_**Colorado**_**-class Stealth Frigate**-United States Navy type of Frigates, designed to perform a long-range scouting operations into enemy territory.

**Okay. With this done, I can only say, see ya!**


End file.
